BEIJING, July 23 (Xinhua) -- China continued to see a deficit in its foreign exchange settlement in the first half of the year with expanded volume from that in the second half of 2014, official data showed on Thursday.

Chinese lenders bought 866.5 billion U.S. dollars' worth of foreign currency and sold 971.9 billion U.S. dollars, resulting in a net sale of 105.4 billion U.S. dollars, said Wang Chunying, spokeswoman with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The forex settlement deficit stood at 62.5 billion U.S. dollars in the second half of 2014 and China continued to see a surplus in its foreign exchange settlement in 2014, but the volume narrowed significantly, indicating easing capital inflows.