Chinese banks saw a net foreign exchange purchase last month, data from the country's forex regulator showed Friday.

Chinese lenders bought 258 billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currencies and sold 231.3 billion dollars' worth in March. It resulted in a net purchase of 26.8 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said at a press conference.

In the first quarter of the year, the banks recorded a net forex purchase of 58.7 billion dollars, the data showed.

Despite the increasing volatility in the international financial market, China's foreign exchange market remained stable and the yuan's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar maintained two-way fluctuations within a balanced range, said Wang Chunying, deputy head of the SAFE.

Wang noted that the cross-border capital flows were generally stable and relatively balanced during the first three months of the year.

The country continued to see net inflows of cross-border capital related to the real economy during the period, with the net inflows from goods trade at an elevated level of 129.7 billion dollars, Wang said.

Earlier data showed China's foreign exchange reserves fell to 3.188 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of March, down 25.8 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.8 percent, from the end of February.

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