China's entrepreneur confidence index, a key indicator of economic performance, hit a record high of 135.3 points in the fourth quarter of 2006.

The confidence index increased by 2.7 points over the third quarter and 9.9 points higher over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

The index, stood at 133.1 points in the first quarter of last year, then declined to 132.5 in the second quarter and 132.6 points in the third.

Statistics show that China's national business climate index (BCI), a result of the bureau's quarterly survey of 19,500 Chinese companies, rose 2.7 points from the third quarter to 139.4 points in the fourth quarter.

Experts attribute the rise of both the entrepreneur confidence index and the BCI to surging profits in 2006, and rising confidence in the economy.

In the first 11 months of last year, firms with annual sales above 5 million yuan (625,000 U.S. dollars) saw profits of 1.65 trillion yuan, up30.7 percent from the previous year.

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