BEIJING, June 17 -- China's commercial banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 113.3 billion yuan (about 15.92 billion U.S. dollars) in May, official data showed on Monday.

In yuan terms, forex purchases by banks stood at 1.25 trillion yuan, while sales reached about 1.36 trillion yuan, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.

China's forex market saw generally stable operation in May, sustaining a balanced flow of cross-border capital, said Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of the administration.

Wang added that market expectations remained stable last month, with rational and orderly foreign exchange transactions and a notably narrowed forex settlement deficit. This indicated that the supply and demand situation in the foreign exchange market further improved.

In May, the net inflow of funds under the goods trade category increased 76 percent month on month and 23 percent year on year, continuing to underpin cross-border capital flows, Wang said.

The net capital inflow into China's domestic bond market also remained at a high level, she said.

In May, the net purchase of domestic bonds stood at 32 billion dollars, an increase of 86 percent month on month.

China's forex market has the solid foundations to maintain stable operations, bolstered by the country's consolidated economic recovery and the market's growing resilience, Wang said.