Picture brightens for corporate profits

The net income of China's industrial companies gained traction in the first eight months, offering further evidence of economic stabilization.

Aggregate industrial profits rose 24.2 percent year-on-year in August alone to 483.2 billion yuan ($78.95 billion), more than double the growth rate of 11.6 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

For the first eight months, industrial profits rose 12.8 percent to 3.49 trillion yuan, the NBS said on its website.