Central bank pumps more money into market

BEIJING - China's central bank continued to pump money into the financial system on Tuesday through open market operations to offset a pre-holiday cash crunch.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 100 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) of reverse repurchase agreements (repo), in which central banks purchase securities from banks with agreements to resell them in the future.

The operations include a 14-day reverse repo priced to yield 2.4 percent and a 28-day reverse repo with a yield of 2.6 percent, each worth 50 billion yuan respectively, according to a PBOC statement.

The move followed a reverse repo of 10 billion yuan on Monday and a net injection of 690 billion yuan through such operations last week.

The PBOC also used other tools, including standing lending facilities, medium-term lending facilities and pledged supplementary lending, to offer more than 1.5 trillion yuan for the market in January.

The money injection was aimed at easing a liquidity strain usually expected before the Chinese New Year, which will fall on Feb. 8 this time.

Following Tuesday's operations, the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, fell 0.3 basis points to 1.984 percent.