Chinese banks see net forex sales in January

BEIJING - Chinese banks saw net foreign exchange sales of $900 million in January, following a settlement surplus in December, China's forex regulator said Monday.

Chinese lenders bought $155.5 billion of foreign currency last month and sold $156.4 billion, resulting in net sales of $900 million, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement.

The SAFE said a generally balanced trend in cross-border capital flows has been "initially formed."

With the domestic economy stabilizing and global recovery improving, the Chinese currency will remain basically stable at a reasonable level to create favorable conditions for balanced capital flows in the longer run, according to the SAFE.

China's foreign exchange reserves rose for the 12th straight month to reach $3.1615 trillion at the end of January.