BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese banks saw net foreign exchange sales of 900 million U.S. dollars in January, following a settlement surplus in December, China's forex regulator said Monday.

Chinese lenders bought 155.5 billion U.S. dollars of foreign currency last month and sold 156.4 billion U.S. dollars, resulting in net sales of 900 million U.S. dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement.

The SAFE said a generally balanced trend in cross-border capital flows has been "initially formed."

With the domestic economy stabilizing and global recovery improving, the Chinese currency will remain basically stable at a reasonable level to create favorable conditions for balanced capital flows in the longer run, according to the SAFE.

China's foreign exchange reserves rose for the 12th straight month to reach 3.1615 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of January.