BEIJING, July 21 -- China's forex regulator said Friday that overseas investors continued to increase their holdings in China's onshore bonds over the past two months.

Overseas investors' net purchase of yuan-denominated bonds traded on China's interbank market stood at 79 billion U.S. dollars for the first half of the year, reversing the offloading experienced last year, Wang Chunying, deputy head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said at a press conference.

In June alone, overseas institutions increased their holdings of Chinese bonds in the interbank market by more than 11 billion dollars, expanding for the second consecutive month, according to Wang.

"China's bond market has become a major choice for overseas institutions' global investment layout," Wang said, adding that more than 1,100 overseas institutions had entered the country's interbank bond market as of the end of June 2023.

She said favorable factors such as the country's sound economic fundamentals, forex market as well as policy environment, will encourage overseas investors to continue to increase holdings of yuan-denominated assets.