(JW Insights) Jul 31 -- Investment and financing activities in China's Internet sector were sluggish in the second quarter due to a lack of high-value projects and fluctuations in the capital market, said a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology(CAIC) on July 28.

Both the number and value of investments and fundraising dropped greatly in the three months ended June 30 from a year ago, said Yicai Global citing the report.

The number of cases dived 60.9 percent over the period to 223, and the value plunged 69.8 percent to $1 billion, the report said. This was a drop of 30.5 percent and 40.4 percent, respectively, from the first quarter.

There were only two projects worth over $100 million each in the second quarter, compared with seven in the same period last year, said Yicai Global.

Business services attracted the most investment in the Internet sector with 68 cases, followed by e-commerce and infrastructure with 20 and 18 cases, respectively.

This is part of a worldwide trend as high inflation, rising interest rates, and uncertainties in economic growth caused investment and financing in the global Internet sector to drop 30.4 percent in the second quarter from a year ago to 3,291 cases, and the value plunged more than half, by 56.6 percent, to $28.7 billion, the report said.

The US still leads in terms of investment and fundraising in the sector, with such activities exceeding $10 billion in the second quarter, followed by the UK, China, and India, said the Yicai Global report.

(Li PP / Gao J)