Chinese stocks held by overseas institutions and individuals reached 1.77 trillion yuan (about 250 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of September, data from China's central bank showed.

Overseas investors put a total of 2.18 trillion yuan into China's bond market as of the end of the third quarter, the People's Bank of China said.

In September alone, net purchase of Chinese stocks and bonds by overseas investors came in at around 78.2 billion yuan and 86.8 billion yuan, respectively.

This marked the fourth consecutive month of net purchase of Chinese stocks by overseas investors.

During the January-September period, overseas investors' net purchase of Chinese stocks and bonds stood at 18.5 billion yuan and 71.3 billion yuan, respectively, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.

QFII quota edges up 

China's dollar-denominated Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) program saw its total quota rise to around 111.4 billion U.S. dollars by the end of October, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The quota in the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program came in at 693.3 billion yuan (about 98.5 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of last month.

China's currency, the yuan, is convertible for trade purposes under the current account, while the capital account, which covers portfolio investment and borrowing, is largely run by the state in an effort to manage capital flows in and out of the country.

The QFII and RQFII programs, introduced in 2003 and 2011 respectively, allow overseas institutional investors to move money into China's capital account to encourage controlled flows.

The Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, a scheme that allows domestic investors to access overseas assets, stood at nearly 104 billion U.S. dollars.