Foreign investment in China picked up in October as companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co expanded to tap surging demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

　　Foreign investment increased 23 percent from a year earlier to US$53.8 billion through October after gaining 21 percent in the first nine months, the Ministry of Commerce said on its Website. That exceeds last year's tally, which was an all-time high.

　　Retail sales were a record 498 billion yuan (US$60 billion) last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said separately.

　　The government is wooing overseas investors and encouraging consumers to spend to sustain economic growth as lending curbs rein in industrial expansion by state-owned companies. Chinese stocks rose amid optimism the credit controls won't trigger a sudden slowdown.

　　"The average people in the street have got jobs and more income to spend," said Tim Leung, who helps manage US$370 million at IG Investment Management (HK) Ltd.

　　China's retail sales rose in October at the fastest pace in five months, surging to a record as rising incomes made clothes, cosmetics and computers more affordable.

　　Sales increased 14.2 percent from a year earlier after rising 14 percent in September.

　　Sales of food and drink, clothing and household merchandise all rose 18 percent last month, those of groceries, meat and cigarettes jumped 27 percent and cosmetics sales grew 30 percent.

　　Yesterday's sales report will "further convince the big retailers like Wal-Mart and Carrefour that their expansion in China is right," said Christopher Torrens, a director at market research firm Access Asia Ltd.

　　Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, this month opened its 40th store in China and said it plans to open as many as 15 more next year. France's Carrefour SA, the biggest overseas retailer in China, said in May it aims to open as many as 15 superstores a year in the country, its largest and fastest-growing Asian market.

　　Investment is pouring into China as incomes climb in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. China attracted a record US$53 billion in overseas investment last year, surpassing the United States as the world's biggest recipient and contracted foreign investment, a sign of future investment, surged 34 percent to US$119 billion in the first 10 months of this year.

　　Disposable incomes in urban areas, home to a third of China's 1.3 billion people, rose 7 percent in the first nine months of this year to 7,072 yuan per capita, official figures show.

　　(Bloomberg News)