Beijing, July 21 (IANS): Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China rose 0.7 percent year on year in June to $14.58 billion, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday.

The growth slowed sharply from a 7.8-percent rise in May. In the first half of the year, FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, stood at $68.41 billion, up 8.3 percent from the same period last year, the ministry said.

Investment in the country's burgeoning service industry continued robustly, accounting for 63.5 percent of total investment flows during the January-June period.

The FDI in the manufacturing sector dropped 8.4 percent to $20.86 billion, accounting for 30.5 percent of the total.

Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang attributed the fast investment growth in services to China's massive market opportunities, government support to the industry, as well as increased opening-up in the sector.

Investments from Macao and France saw fast growth, up 56.2 percent and 46.9 percent respectively. In contrast, investment from Japan plunged 16.3 percent, and that from the US fell 37.6 percent.

Foreign mergers and acquisitions in China increased sharply, with their share of total FDI surging from 4.8 percent last year to 19.3 percent.

Tuesday's data also showed China's outbound direct investment by non-financial firms jumped 29.2 percent to $56 billion in the first half of the year.

The FDI data came as growth in the world's second largest economy showed signs of bottoming out on the back of a slew of government support policies.

Growth in the second quarter came in at 7 percent, unchanged from the first quarter and in line with the government target of around 7 percent.