BEIJING — Chinese commercial banks saw a significant drop in net foreign exchange (forex) sales in the first three quarters of the year.

Banks bought $1.4163 trillion worth of foreign currencies and sold $1.4444 trillion worth from January to September, resulting in net sales of $28.1 billion, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement on Oct 25.

Net forex sales decreased 75 percent from a year ago, SAFE data showed.

“China’s cross-border capital flows remained generally stable and the supply and demand of foreign currencies were basically balanced,” SAFE spokesperson Wang Chunying said.