About 89 percent of the companies made additional investments last year, more than the survey results from early last year.

Two thirds of the respondents said they have raised their investment budgets in China for the coming three years.

The vast domestic market means huge business opportunities for both local and foreign businesses, Seyedin said.

The member companies also said they face challenges of rising inflation, protectionism from other countries and the rising Chinese currency, the yuan, according to Seyedin.

Chalco Cashes in

The Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. (Chalco), the nation's largest producer of the light metal, swung back to profits in 2010 thanks to growing aluminum prices.

The company generated a net profit of 778 million yuan ($118 million) last year, reversing a painful loss of 4.62 billion yuan ($689.6 million) a year earlier. Its revenues totaled 121 billion yuan ($18.6 billion), up 72 percent year on year.

"The turnaround was attributable to efficient cost controls and rising market prices," said Xiong Weiping, Chairman and CEO of Chalco.

Despite the turnaround, Xiong pointed to daunting challenges facing the company.

"Though the industry has left the downturn behind it, the fundamentals have not changed yet. It's still a low-profit industry reeling from overcapacity," he said.

Austerity government policies will also put pressure on the company's balance sheet, he added.

Chalco announced plans to raise up to 25 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) this year in the inter-bank bond market and more than 9 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) via additional share issues, in a move to optimize debt and replenish liquidity.

Meanwhile, the company vowed to continue its overseas expansion this year to ensure sustainable resource supplies.

Bauxite, iron ore and steam coal will be the main mines on Chalco's shopping list, said Luo Jianchuan, President of Chalco.

Sina Extends Reach

China's leading portal website Sina agreed to pay $66 million for a stake in the Mecox Lane Ltd., a Shanghai-based and Nasdaq-listed online apparel retailer, to set foot in the booming online shopping market.

Sina will buy almost 11 million American depositary shares, or a stake of about 19 percent, in Mecox Lane from Sequoia Capital.

"E-commerce is growing very fast in China, and this investment is our first step to be involved in the market," said Sina President and CEO Charles Chao.

Online shopping is experiencing a surge in the country, with the transaction value totaling 498 billion yuan ($76 billion) in 2010, almost double that of 2009, said the iResearch Consulting Group.

"The deal will also help Mecox Lane lower its marketing costs and lure customers from Sina's huge user base, and the involvement of large portal websites in e-commerce will be a big trend in future," said Henry Yang, President of iResearch.