Despite reporting a fall in the sales figures collected for the first nine months of the year, one of Europe's top ranked insurance firm, AXA said that market conditions were definitely improving, and the business environment was turning around steadily.

The firm's sales have reportedly fallen to 68.09 Billion Euros ($101 Billion) in the period till September this year. This was however, better than the dip predicted by analysts polled by Reuters, who had posted the figure as 68.36 Billion Euros. In addition, AXA's share price also took a 3.9% plunge on Wednesday, when the trading price was reported as 17.18 Euros.

"The outlook in global financial markets has improved over the last six months, which provides a more favorable environment for our business," Chief Executive Henri de Castries said. "Our top line trends for the first nine months are in line with the ones observed in the first half of 2009, with a modest revenue drop and continued positive insurance net inflows", he added.

Although the sales have dipped and share prices have slipped, the French insurance company is positive about the future. It believes that the economic situation is improving and the market is simply unstable as of now. It is expecting to see much better figures once the market stabilizes.