BEIJING — Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland rose 4.2 percent year on year to $8.77 billion in October, the Ministry of Commerce said on Nov 11.

The growth slowed from a 7.1-percent rise in September.

For the first ten months, FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, stood at $103.7 billion, up 8.6 percent from the same period last year.

Foreign investment in the service industry rose 19.4 percent, with the high-tech service sector seeing a jump of 57.5 percent to $6.76 billion.

High-tech manufacturing attracted $7.58 billion of foreign investment during the January-October period, up 11.6 percent and accounting for 23.3 percent of total foreign investment in manufacturing.

Investment from the ASEAN, European Union, Hong Kong, and Macao continued to grow fast, while that from Japan, the United States and Taiwan dropped significantly.

The ministry also noted that more foreign firms invested in China through mergers and acquisitions, which accounted for 15.4 percent of the total FDI in January-October, up from 6 percent in the same period last year.