BEIJING - China's forex purchase position reached 27.363 trillion yuan ($4.41 trillion) at the end of April, suggesting continuous capital inflows amid continued bets on yuan appreciation, the People's Bank of China announced Wednesday.

The PBOC said the figure marked the fifth straight month of rises, resulting in a net increase of 294.35 billion yuan in April, up from March's increase of 236.30 billion yuan.

The foreign exchange purchase position is a key gauge of the level of capital inflows.

The PBOC's average monthly increase of the total yuan holdings for purchasing foreign currency stood at 400 billion yuan in the first four months of the year, nine times the monthly figure in 2012.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China's top forex regulator, announced in early May that it would step up controls on capital inflows, including stricter checks on mismatches between cargo and cash flows and increased oversight of current account transactions, effective from June 1.

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