BEIJING, Aug. 14 -- The central bank's new yuan funds outstanding for foreign exchange totaled 26.4 trillion yuan (4.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in July, registering a landmark drop of 308 billion yuan, data released Friday showed.

The figure was less than new funds outstanding for foreign exchange of financial institutions, which also dipped 249.1 billion yuan month on month to stand at 28.9 trillion yuan in July, according to data released by the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

The PBOC releases two sets of data on yuan funds for foreign exchange every month by differentiating forex purchases by the central bank and commercial banks.

The funds are an important indicator for foreign capital flow in and out of China as well as domestic yuan liquidity.