Some 442,000 foreign-invested companies had been set up in China by the end of July, up 0.26 percent from a month earlier, according to a report released by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) on August 12.

Their registered capital fell 0.03 percent from a month ago to 12.09 trillion yuan ($1.95 trillion).

In July, the number of newly-registered foreign-funded companies increased 3.11 percent from a month ago to 3,000.

Amid the lackluster global economic environment, multinational companies scaled back their investment in China. The actual use of foreign direct investment declined for eight consecutive months from June 2012, but has posted a slight recovery since then.

According to the SAIC report, China had 14.38 million business enterprises by the end of July, up 2.07 percent month on month. Their registered capital rose 1.93 percent to 90.73 trillion yuan.