Chinese Banks' foreign exchange sales rise in March

Chinese banks saw 36.4 billion US dollars of net foreign exchange sales in March, up slightly from February but still markedly lower than the previous two months, official data showed Thursday. 
Chinese lenders bought 117.7 billion US dollars' worth of foreign currency last month and sold 154 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement. 
The data marks the ninth-straight month of deficit and was higher than the 33.9 billion dollars recorded in February. However, it has narrowed from the 54.4 billion US dollars seen in January and 89.4 billion US dollars in December, according to (Xinhua) news agency. 
The figures shows that the pressure of cross-border capital outflows has been gradually eased, SAFE spokesperson Wang Chunying told a press conference on Thursday.