SHANGHAI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The booming Shanghai Municipality approved the establishment of 910 foreign-invested businesses in the first quarter of this year, according to the local statistical bureau.

    The projects involved 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in contracted foreign capital, a growth of 9.9 percent over the same period of last year, the bureau said.

    Of the total, 2.15 billion U.S. dollars, or 63 percent, went to the service sector, up 33.2 percent from the year-earlier level.

    Meanwhile, 1.25 billion U.S. dollars of pledged foreign capital was attracted by the manufacturing and construction sector, down 16.1 percent, the bureau said.

    The property development projects remained a hot spot for foreign investment in the first three months.

    Between January and March, 17 property development projects with investment from overseas were clinched. They involved 888 million U.S. dollars in contracted foreign capital, making up 41.3percent of the total for the service trade and representing a year-on-year growth of 58 percent, the bureau said. Enditem