Chinese commercial banks reported a net forex purchase in the first half of the year, the country's forex regulator said Thursday.

Chinese lenders bought 928.2 billion U.S. dollars' worth of foreign currencies and sold 914.4 billion dollars from January to June, resulting in a net purchase of 13.8 billion dollars, according to Wang Chunying, spokesperson for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

In the same period last year, the banks saw a net forex settlement deficit of 93.8 billion U.S. dollars, Wang said.