BEIJING - China's financial institutions, including banks, insurers and securities firms, saw net investment inflows from overseas investors in the second quarter of 2017, data from the nation's foreign exchange regulator showed.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) to China's financial institutions came in at $3.4 billion during the April-June period, while $1.32 billion of investment flowed out, resulting in $2.08 billion of net inflows, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

This was in contrast to the $1.29 billion net investment outflows logged in the first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, the country's financial institutions made a net investment of $455 million overseas during the April-June period, down from $1.98 billion in the first quarter, the data showed.

SAFE has been publicizing the data on a quarterly basis since 2012, as part of the regulator's efforts to increase the transparency of foreign exchange statistics.

Earlier official data showed foreign direct investment to the country's non-financial sectors edged down 0.1 percent year on year to 441.54 billion yuan (about $66.1 billion) in the first six months.