Chinese outbound investments rebounded somewhat in March following four consecutive months of subdued outflows, raising expectations that Beijing may take a more relaxed attitude to controls imposed last year on investment capital leaving the country.

Grisons Peak, a London-based investment bank, found that investments by Chinese companies into overseas counterparts — a definition that includes everything from buying minority stakes to full acquisitions — rose to $17bn in March, up from $6bn in the previous month.

The March total also exceeded a monthly average of $11bn in corporate investment outflows in the four months from November to the end of February, according to the Grisons Peak data. However, activity remained subdued compared with the $32bn in deals agreed in October last year, a month before Beijing announced a tightening of capital controls.