China's central bank skips open market operations for 23 days

BEIJING - The People's Bank of China suspended open market operations on Tuesday, citing abundant liquidity in the financial system.

It is the 23rd consecutive working day for the central bank to skip open market operations, a record since early 2016 when the bank announced increased frequency of open market operations.

No reverse repos will mature this week.

Analysts say the central bank prefers mid- to long-term policy tools over reverse repos, which boost liquidity in the banking system within a short period of time, as it faces a major task in reducing the costs of long-term financing.

Lian Ping, chief economist with the Bank of Communications, has said the suspensions did not point to tightened monetary policy.

"There was still room for targeted reduction in commercial banks' reserve requirement ratios," Lian told online financial information provider Jrj.com.

A reverse repo is a process by which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

The central bank will maintain a prudent and neutral monetary policy, easing or tightening only as appropriate, and make the financial sector better serve the real economy, according to a report published by the bank in early November.