China's privately offered funds expand in February

BEIJING - The total value of privately offered funds stood at 12 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) at the end of February.

The figure was up 2.08 percent from the end of January, according to the Asset Management Association of China Sunday.

The number of private funds rose 2.5 percent to 70,800 at the end of last month.

Due to weak performance of China's stock market last month, combined value of funds investing in securities shrank slightly to 2.6 trillion yuan.

In February, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 6.4 percent, while the Shenzhen Component Index was down by 3 percent, data showed.

The value of private equity funds, which invest in non-listed companies, rose 2.6 percent to 6.6 trillion yuan, while that of venture capital funds rose 3 percent to 660 billion yuan.