BEIJING - Chinese individuals and institutions bought more foreign currency than they sold through Chinese banks in August, the country's foreign exchange authority said Tuesday.

Chinese clients exchanged $127.8 billion in foreign currency for yuan through Chinese banks while buying $134.2 billion in foreign currency from financial institutions during the month, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

This resulted in a foreign exchange deficit of $6.3 billion in August, following a mild surplus of $500 million in July, SAFE said.

In the first eight months of the year, Chinese banks bought $1 trillion in foreign currency and sold $976.8 billion, creating a surplus of $23.6 billion, the SAFE said.

Foreign exchange sale and purchase data do not cover interbank transactions on the market.