BEIJING - The number of foreign-funded companies in China rose 0.24 percent from a month earlier to 440,900 by the end of September, according to official data released Saturday.

Total registered capital of foreign-funded companies increased 5.53 percent from a month ago to 12.14 trillion yuan ($1.98 trillion), the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said in a report.

Due to lackluster economic growth in China and the rest of the world, foreign companies have slowed down their investment in China.

The actual use of foreign direct investment declined for eight consecutive months from June 2012, but has posted year-on-year rises since February of this year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

According to the SAIC report, China had 14.69 million companies by the end of September, up 9.42 percent month on month. Their total registered capital rose 16.18 percent to 93 trillion yuan.