Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland rose 1.9 percent in September from a year earlier, standing at 9.01 billion U.S. dollars, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday.

The pickup follows a 14-percent slump seen in August. It's a sign that investors are more confident about the growth outlook in the world's second largest economy.

For the first nine months, the FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, topped 87.36 billion U.S. dollars, down 1.4 percent from the same period last year, with the decline pace narrowing from the 1.8 -percent registered in the first eight months, the ministry said.