BEIJING — China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement surplus of 169.3 billion yuan (about $23.87 billion) in May, the country's forex regulator said on June 19. 

Forex purchases by banks stood at 1.08 trillion yuan last month, while sales came in at 910.3 billion yuan, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed.

In breakdown, the amount of forex settlement and sales by banks for customers stood at 977 billion yuan and 834.1 billion yuan respectively, with a settlement surplus of 142.9 billion yuan.

The amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales for banks themselves stood at 102.6 billion yuan and 76.2 billion yuan respectively, with a settlement surplus of 26.4 billion yuan.

In the first five months, commercial banks saw a net forex settlement surplus of 547 billion yuan.

The forex market is basically balanced in supply and demand, said Wang Chunying, SAFE spokesperson and chief economist.

The size of foreign exchange reserves saw a slight growth to stand at $3.1 trillion at the end of May, an increase of $10.2 billion from that at the end of April, she said.

Major channels showed a stable flow of cross-border funds. In May, the surplus of cross-border payments and receipts for trade in goods went up 28 percent year-on-year.

Overseas investors raised their net holdings comprising domestic bonds and listed stocks by $23.6 billion in the period, up 25 percent from that in April.

Despite external uncertainties amid the COVID-19 pandemic, China's forex market saw an increasing resilience with renminbi assets showing stronger attraction, said Wang, citing reasons such as improved economic structure and recovering business activities.