BEIJING, Sept. 15 -- China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 74.1 billion yuan (about 10.32 billion U.S. dollars) in August, narrowing by 30 percent from a month ago, official data showed on Friday.

In yuan terms, forex purchases by banks stood at 1.39 trillion yuan, while sales reached about 1.46 trillion yuan, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.

During the first eight months, forex purchases by banks came in at 10.44 trillion yuan, and sales totaled 10.6 trillion yuan.