BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- 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 U.S. dollars worth of foreign currencies and sold 1.4444 trillion dollars worth from January to September, resulting in net sales of 28.1 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement Thursday.

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.