China witnessed a fifth straight month of net foreign exchange purchases among the central bank and commercial lenders, indicating accelerated capital inflows into the country.

Banks brought in nearly 294.4 billion yuan ($47.9 billion) worth of foreign exchange last month on a net basis, up from 236.3 billion yuan in March, as shown by data released by the People's Bank of China on Wednesday.

The total yuan holdings for such purchases stood at nearly 27.4 trillion yuan by the end of April.