LONDON—Foreign companies cut back sharply on new investments in the euro zone's two largest economies in the first six months of 2011, deterred by the currency area's fiscal and banking crises, according to figures released by a United Nations agency Tuesday.

The decline in new investments in Germany and France was part of a broader pull-back from developed economies in favor of their developing counterparts, which have grown much more rapidly since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.

According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, foreign direct investment in the U.S. fell by 49% from the final six months of last year to $74 billion, while inflows to China rose 12% to $61 billion. In recent years China has been a distant second to the U.S. as the world's leading destination for foreign investment, but it is fast closing the gap. Indeed, if flows to Hong Kong are added to China's, the total rises to $111 billion.

The main exceptions to the global trend were the U.K. and Ireland. The former attracted $82 billion in new investment in the six months to June, up a massive 250% from the second half of last year, while the latter attracted $30 billion, up 66% from the previous period.

Investment in Ireland exceeded the combined total for Germany and France by almost $10 billion. The euro zone's largest economies have been pressuring Ireland to raise its corporate tax rate, which stands at 12.5%.