Industrial enterprise profits reach 559b yuan in Sep

Profits made by Chinese industrial -enterprises totaled 558.89 billion yuan ($91.88 billion) in September, up 18.4 percent year-on-year, registering a slower growth compared to the previous month, official data showed Sunday.

In the first nine months of the year, profits made by the country's industrial enterprises rose by 13.5 percent year-on-year to 4.05 trillion yuan, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement posted on its website.

The main business profit of industrial enterprises in the first nine months increased 5.3 percent year-on-year, said the statement.

From January to September, 24 of the 41 major industries tracked by the bureau generated more profits from their main business than in the same period last year, while 15 of them saw reduced profits compared to the same period last year. Two of them ceased to make losses and began to earn profits, the data -report said.

This, however, came after bullish readings for the manufacturing sector.

Strong new orders drove the fastest expansion in China's manufacturing sector in seven months in October, a preliminary survey showed Thursday, more evidence that the economy is stabilizing although a strong rebound remains elusive.

The flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) -figure offers some positive news after disappointing export figures and September's manufacturing PMI, which had shown weak domestic demand.

The flash PMI reading stood at 50.9 in October, above September's final reading of 50.2 and marking a seven-month high.

"China's growth recovery is becoming consolidated into the fourth quarter following the bottoming out in the third quarter," said Qu Hongbin, an HSBC economist, in a statement.