Chinese commercial banks continued to see a net foreign exchange purchase in May, data from the country's forex regulator showed Tuesday.

Chinese lenders bought 172.6 billion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currencies and sold 153.2 billion dollars worth last month, resulting in a net purchase of 19.4 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement.

In April, the banks recorded a net forex purchase of 10.6 billion dollars.