China's banks saw a net forex settlement surplus of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in January, according to the data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). Forex purchases by banks totaled 175.3 billion dollars and sales hit 172.8 billion dollars.
In January, foreign trade in goods registered a surplus of 38.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 9% over the previous month. Net equities purchased by overseas investors hit a single-month record of 27.7 billion U.S. dollars in January.
China continued to see a generally stable housing market in January, with more cities witnessing slight month-on-month increases in home prices, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. In January, 36 out of 70 large and medium-sized cities saw month-on-month rises in new home sales prices, up from 15 in December. A total of 13 cities witnessed higher resale home prices, up from seven in the previous month.
New home prices in four first-tier cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou – edged up 0.2% month on month. In 31 second-tier cities' new home prices increased 0.1% month on month, reversing the 0.3% drop registered in December, while 35 third-tier cities saw a month-on-month decline of 0.1%.
China's civil aviation transport logged a steady rebound in January 2023, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China press conference. Total transport turnover of the sector stood at 7.39 billion tonne-kilometers, up 13.9% year on year.
More than 39.77 million air passenger trips were handled last month, surging 34.8% year on year, recovering to 74.5% of the level in the same period of 2019. Total transport turnover and cargo and mail volume of China's civil aviation sector recovered to 69.5% and 72.9% of the 2019 level.