China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) went down 0.7 percent year on year in the first half of this year, data showed Thursday.

The ODI in 159 countries and regions amounted to 362.14 billion yuan (about 51.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the period, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China added a total of 8.12 billion dollars of non-financial ODI into countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, up 19.4 percent year on year. Investment in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also saw stellar growth of 53.1 percent to 6.23 billion dollars.

Chinese companies saw their overseas investment in the leasing and business services sector grow by 20.1 percent year on year to 19.56 billion dollars, while investment into the manufacturing sector dropped 15.6 percent to 8.17 billion dollars, according to the ministry.