China Investment Corporation (CIC), the nation's sovereign wealth fund, has invested half of its $110-billion available capital in the overseas market and has gained decent returns from it so far, its head said yesterday.

"We have reaped not bad returns from our investment so far this year," said Lou Jiwei, the CIC chairman, adding he would not be able to guarantee that those returns would still be 'good' by year-end, as this depended on various factors.

The nation's $200-billion fund, which has been on a bumpy road since it was established over two years ago, stepped up its overseas investments from the second quarter of the year when the global financial market started stabilizing and investor sentiment bounced back, Lou said.