Foreign direct investment destined for the Mainland reached 666.3 billion yuan (US$96.9 billion) in the first ten months of this year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

In year-on-year terms, FDI grew by 4.2 percent over the same period last year. Compared to September, growth was stable, the Xinhua news agency reports.

In the ten months to the end of October, FDI in the high-tech sector surged by 90.2 percent compared to the same period last year. The ministry says the 79.2-billion-yuan investment in technology shows companies are interested in high-valued-added production in China.

Meanwhile, 22,600 new companies have been set up by foreign investors this year to October 31, an increase of 7.4 percentage points compared to the same time last year.