By Liam Moloney

ROME--Italian manufacturing business confidence fell slightly in July, for the second month, pulled down by a worsening outlook for orders, national statistics institute Istat said Monday.

Confidence among Italy's manufacturers slipped to 99.7 in July from June, according to Istat's monthly survey. June's figure was revised down to 99.9 from an earlier 100.0 estimate.

The outlook for orders worsened, while the outlook for output rose and for inventories it stayed flat, "hence the overall drop is small," said an Istat official.

Italy's composite business confidence index, a broader indicator subsuming the retail, market-services and construction sectors, rose to 90.9 in June from 88.2 in June, lifted by an improvement in the construction sector, which had been particularly depressed in the previous months, as well as retail and market services, Istat said.

The construction sector index rose to 83.2 from 81.6 in June.

Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com