Singapore - Direct investments in the United States from Asia-Pacific companies looking to acquire or set up businesses overseas have surged, with Australia in the lead, published US Department of Commerce figures said on Wednesday.

The region's direct investments more than doubled from 15.7 billion US dollars in 2006 to 36.9 billion US dollars last year.

"Outlays by investors from Australia, Singapore and (South) Korea increased significantly," said the department's report published in The Business Times.

Australia's investments nearly tripled to 15.2 billion US dollars and were primarily directed at the real estate and rental and leasing industry.

Japan's amounted to 8.5 billion US dollars from 8.3 billion in 2006 while direct investments from Singapore surged from 20 million US dollars in 2006 to 6.27 billion US dollars last year, the report said.

The investments from South Korea amounted to 3.0 billion US dollars in 2007. India's hit 1.9 billion US dollars.

For the region as a whole, the biggest chunk of investments, 15.4 billion US dollars, went into manufacturing, followed by real estate and rental and leasing.

"The strong growth in spending in 2006 and 2007 coincided with declines in the value of the dollar against many major currencies," said the department's report.

Globally, 276.8 billion US dollars in foreign direct investments flowed into the US last year, up 67 per cent from 2006 and the second largest on record. New investments peaked at 335.6 billion US dollars in 2000. (dpa)