French business leaders expressed less confidence on the country's economic activities, with the monthly sentiment indicator lost one point to 90 in July, the lowest level in two years, the national statistics bureau Insee said Tuesday.

The businesmen's appreciation of their past activity remained negative after falling by two points to minus 9 over the period, with "export order books decreased significantly," it added.

"Looking at the personal production outlook, which decreases by three points and is below their long-term average, activity in manufacturing industry would be unfavorable in the next months," Insee noted in a monthly economic report.

In a recent report, Insee expected France's growth to stagnate in the second quarter before rising by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent in the third and last quarter respectively in a way to reach 0.4 percent for the whole year of 2012, compared to 1.7 percent recorded in 2011 and below the government target of 0.7 percent.