China's real estate market has extended its downward trend with new home prices in January registering month-on-month declines in most cities surveyed.

Of 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed, new home prices dropped in January in 64, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The prices remained flat in Shanghai, Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Nanchang in Jiangxi Province and Guangzhou in Guangdong Province in the month. Only two cities, Shenzhen in Guangdong and Ganzhou in Jiangxi, saw prices rising 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

For existing homes, prices fell in 61 cities, while only six recorded gains.

NBS statistician Liu Jianwei said that the housing market in the four most economically developed cities--Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen--stabilized in January, while prices in big cities, mostly provincial capitals, dropped more slowly. Prices in small and medium-sized cities remained in freefall.

Silk Road Fund

The priority of China's newly established Silk Road Fund Co. Ltd. is to seek investment opportunities and provide monetary services throughout the One Belt and One Road initiatives, said a recent statement released by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.

China in 2013 proposed the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to improve cooperation with countries in a vast part of Asia, Europe and Africa. President Xi Jinping announced the creation of the $40-billion Silk Road Fund in November 2014, and it was established on December 29 last year.

The company will invest mainly in infrastructure, resource development, as well as industrial and financial cooperation, in an effort to achieve common development and prosperity.

Soaring FDI

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland jumped 29.4 percent in January from a year earlier, settling at $13.92 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The pace of growth quickened from a 1.7-percent increase in 2014, as investment in the country's service industry continued to pick up steam.

A total of $9.18 billion, around 66 percent of the FDI, went into China's service sector in January. FDI into the manufacturing sector reached $3.95 billion, accounting for 28.4 percent of the total.

In January, outbound FDI from the Chinese mainland also saw a robust growth of 40.6 percent year on year. Chinese investment flew to 1,105 companies in 131 countries or regions, totaling $10.17 billion.

EV Sharing

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's second largest city, plans to launch an electric-vehicle sharing service with input from Chinese automaker BYD, local media reported on February 24.

BYD is one of five firms that together make up PPP Radar, the consortium that has won the bid to develop the program, according to O Estado de Sao Paulo.

BYD, together with DirijaJa, IDOM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Albino Advogados Associados, has six months to present their project, the newspaper said.

"The city of Rio de Janeiro should have a fleet of electric vehicles as of next year for car-sharing," the daily said, adding that the program will offer some 300 cars initially.

Car-sharing, which operates in cities worldwide, allows drivers to rent a vehicle by the hour, a convenience for those who don't need a car full time or want to try a different model than the one they have.