An investigation into this year's speculative "hot money" inflows uncovered 190 cases involving US$7.35 billion of funds, a senior official of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said.

In an undated interview with The People's Daily posted on the newspaper's website Monday, Deng Xianhong, deputy director of the SAFE, said the foreign exchange regulator did not find evidence of large amounts of hot money flowing into China.

The SAFE investigation began in February.

The latest figure was unchanged from the May 25 figure.

Most of the speculative and arbitrage capital from overseas wound up in the equity and property markets, Deng told the newspaper without giving further details.

Disguised as funds for trade and investment, an unknown amount of hot money enters China every year. The capital is betting on an appreciation of the yuan, China's currency, and a hike in asset prices.

Capital flows into and out of China for purposes other than payment for imports and exports are strictly controlled by the SAFE.

The SAFE manages China's US$2.45 trillion in foreign exchange reserves.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2010)