BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese commercial banks reported net foreign exchange sales last month, following a settlement surplus in May, data from the country's forex regulator showed Thursday.

Chinese lenders bought 142.3 billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currencies while selling 161.6 billion dollars worth last month, resulting in net sales of 19.3 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement.

In the first half of the year, the banks recorded total net forex sales of 33.2 billion dollars, the data showed.

China's cross-border capital flows have remained basically stable in the first half of 2019, with balanced supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, SAFE spokesperson Wang Chunying said at a press conference.

On the market outlook for the second half of the year, the relative easing of the worldwide monetary environment would be conducive to the stable development of China's foreign exchange market, Wang noted.

Meanwhile, the country's steadily expanding economy and continued opening-up policies will offer a foundation for balanced capital flows.

Earlier data showed China's foreign exchange reserves, a similar measure of capital flow, expanded slightly to 3.11 trillion dollars at the end of June.

The country's economy logged 6.3-percent growth in the first six months, in line with the government's annual target of 6-6.5 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. Enditem

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