BEIJING, Dec. 18 -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland gained 2.35 percent in November from a year ago to 8.48 billion U.S. dollars, an increase for ten consecutive months, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed on Wednesday.

The rate of growth was higher from the 1.24-percent rise in October.

From January to November, the country's FDI inflow stood at 105.51 billion U.S. dollars, up 5.48 percent from the same period last year.

FDI into the country's service sector continued to grow, up 14.04 percent from a year earlier to 54.25 billion U.S. dollars in the first eleven months.

In contrast, the manufacturing sector attracted 41.46 billion U.S. dollars of FDI, down 5.71 percent in the January-November period from a year earlier.

FDI from the European Union surged 17.36 percent from a year earlier to 6.82 billion U.S. dollars in the first eleven months. Investment from the United States climbed 8.6 percent to 3.16 billion U.S. dollars.

FDI from ten Asian countries and regions went up 7.45 percent to 91.41 billion U.S. dollars. Among this, FDI from Japan climbed 2.29 percent year on year to 6.76 billion U.S. dollars. FDI from Thailand rose 466.04 percent from a year earlier to 482 million U.S. dollars.

In the first eleven months, Chinese investment in overseas non-financial sectors gained 28.3 percent year on year to 80.24 billion U.S. dollars, the ministry said.

Investment to Russia grew 685 percent year on year. Investment to the U.S. gained 232.2 percent year on year.

Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said the large growth in investment to Russia and the U.S., as well as from Thailand, were mainly because of large projects. He did not specify the projects.

Customs data showed growth in exports in November. This was mainly because of the recovery in developed countries, domestic policies to boost exports and the relatively low basis for comparison in 2012, Shen said.

However, the growth rate of November imports dropped slightly, largely because of sluggish commodity markets and flagging import prices, the spokesman said.

Citing an index calculated from a survey of more than 1,900 foreign trade companies, Shen said the November exporter confidence index rose by 1.1 percentage points from October to 100, which is the boom-bust line. The reading indicated trade companies are cautious about future exports, Shen said.