China posts foreign exchange deficit in July

Chinese banks sold a net 2.9 billion yuan ($420 million) of foreign exchanges to clients in July, the first deficit within four months, after a surplus of 47.3 billion yuan in June, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange reported on Friday.

Last month, the banks bought a total of 1.13 trillion yuan in foreign currency and sold 1.19 trillion yuan, also resulting in a deficit of 63 billion yuan, according to the administration.

Despite the single-month deficits, in the first seven months, the above two areas all recorded a surplus of 268.5 billion yuan and 25.1 billion yuan respectively, said the SAFE.

A spokesperson from the administration said on Friday that cross-border capital flows showed stability in July, with continual inflows of outbound capital.

"Purchases of foreign exchanges by both companies and individuals remained stable," said the spokesperson.