BEIJING - Chinese companies continued to invest big in the overseas market in the first five months of the year, official data showed on Wednesday.

China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) rose 61.9 percent from a year earlier to 479 billion yuan ($74 billion) in January-May period, the Ministry of Commerce said on its website.

Major investment destinations included ASEAN, Australia, the EU, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Russia and the United States, which together were in receipt of $59 billion, about four fifth of the total.