BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland's overseas portfolio investment rose last year, with Hong Kong being the prime destination, official data showed.

At the end of last year, the mainland's overseas portfolio investment assets (excluding reserve assets) were worth 498 billion U.S. dollars, up from 360 billion dollars at the end of 2016, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Of the total, 304 billion dollars were held in equity investments while the remaining 194 billion dollars flowed into bond investment.

In breakdown, nearly a third of the total was invested in Hong Kong, followed by the United States with 145 billion dollars and the Cayman Islands with 38 billion dollars.

China started to publish country-specific figures on overseas portfolio investment in January 2016 after joining the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey conducted by the International Monetary Fund at the end of 2015.