BEIJING - China exchanged less foreign currency with the renminbi in July, resulting in smaller forex surplus for the month, China's foreign exchange regulator said Friday.

Chinese institutions and individuals sold $153 billion in foreign currencies for 942 billion yuan in July, and bought $152 billion in foreign exchange from banks, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China's forex regulator.

The net forex surplus, an indicator of the willingness to hold yuan-denominated assets, dropped to $1.2 billion in July from $15.4 billion in June.

Calculated by the yuan's central parity against the US dollar, the Chinese currency depreciated 0.24 percent in July.

Transactions in foreign currencies in China weakened in July, as sales fell 1.5 percent from the previous month while purchases declined 8.6 percent, according to SAFE data.

China will sell 152.7 billion yuan worth of foreign currency more than the amount it buys through forex forward contracts.

The net forex surplus contributed to part of China's foreign reserves.

Beijing, Seoul agree to directly trade currencies	Top 10 most-used currencies in the world