SINGAPORE - China represented the top investment destination within Asia for Singapore companies, with Direct Investments Abroad (DIA) of S$76.6 billion ($62.4 billion) as of the end of 2011, up 12.3 percent, the city-state's trade promotion agency, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, announced on Thursday.

Following China, Malaysia and Indonesia enjoyed the second and third DIAs from Singapore, registered at S$34 billion ($27.7 billion) and S$32.3 billion ($26.3 billion) repetitively until end-2011.

The IE Singapore said thanks to the brilliant performances in these three countries and also other countries in the region, Asia remained a bright spot for Singapore's investments abroad. The city-state's DIA to Asia region grew by 6.5 percent in 2011, much higher than the overall growth of 1.7 percent.

The total DIA in Asia standed at S$240 billion ($195.4 billion), accounting for 57.7 percent of Singapore's total DIA. The agency said emerging markets continued to be the engine of growth for Singapore's investments and trade, adding that "the growing middle class, young population and urbanization in these markets offer opportunities" which will fuel companies' growth.

According to official data, the cumulative stock of the Singapore's DIA increased from S$409.5 billion($333.5 billion) in the preceding year to S$416.4 billion ($339.1 billion) as of end-2011.

For external trade aspect, Singapore saw exports of goods declining by 0.9 percent due to weakened global demand, especially electronics, while non-oil domestic exports grew by 0.5 percent in 2012.

The top three merchandise trade partners with this country, excluding the EU 27, was Malaysia, China and Indonesia in 2012. The total trade with these three countries registered at 1.3 percent, 2.4 percent and 1.8 percent up respectively, while the total trade "with major developed markets such as the European Union, the United States and Japan as a bloc declined by 2.4 percent in 2012 due to weak economic conditions in these economies ".

Last year, Singapore's total trade reached S$984.9 billion ($802 billion), up 1.1 percent on year.