BEIJING — Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland rose 1.3 percent in October from a year earlier, standing at $8.53 billion, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Nov 18.

The rate of growth was lower than the 1.9 percent growth in September, after a 14-percent slump seen in August.

For the first ten months, the FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, totaled $95.88 billion, down 1.2 percent from the same period last year, with the decline pace narrowing from the 1.4 percent registered in the first nine months, the ministry said.

The service sector attracted $53.12 billion, 6.6 percent higher compared with the same ten months in 2013.

Growth of FDI into the manufacturing sector in the January-October period declined 15.1 percent year on year to $32.52 billion, MOC data showed.

For the first 10 months, FDI from Japan and the United States fell 42.9 percent and 23.8 percent from a year earlier, respectively, while that from Republic of Korea and Britain increased 26.4 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively.