BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The Chinese yuan will still fluctuate around a reasonably balanced level, an official at China's foreign exchange regulator said on Friday.

The yuan has been more stable than expected and has maintained relatively high flexibility, Wang Chunying, spokeswoman for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), told a news conference.

Monitoring of inbound and outbound capital flows will be stepped up, Wang said.

"The renminbi can be expected to remain stable at a reasonable and balanced level," Wang said, using another name for the yuan.

China's commercial banks purchased a net $4.0 billion of foreign exchange in September, compared with a net sale of $3.8 billion in August, SAFE announced on Friday.

For the January to September period, net forex purchases stood at $76.2 billion, according to a statement on the SAFE website.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)