China central bank continues liquidity injection

BEIJING - China's central bank continued to inject liquidity into the banking system on Tuesday, with 12 billion yuan ($1.96 billion) of 7-day reverse repurchase agreement (repo) operations.

The yield of the reverse repo, a process of central bank purchasing securities from commercial banks with an agreement to resell them at a future date, stood at 4.0 percent, according to a People's Bank of China statement.

"The reverse repo rate fell 40 basis points from last week's offering," said Jiang Chao, an analyst with Haitong Securities.

"It indicated that the central bank aims to guide the market borrowing costs to a lower level," he said.

Changes in the yields of reverse repo rate usually reflect how the central bank views the current borrowing costs in the market and how it will guide future lending rates.

The injection is the third since last Tuesday when the central bank resumed the reverse repo sales after a suspension of about six months.

But experts said the central bank's move does not mean a change in the prudent monetary policy.

The central government has said several times that the macro policy will be consistent and stable.

Peng Wensheng, chief economist at China International Capital Corporation, said the central bank is fine-tuning its monetary policy to make it more effective in stabilizing growth.

Short-term borrowing costs were mixed in China's inter-bank market Tuesday. The overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) remained unchanged at 3.1 percent.

The one-week Shibor dipped 29 basis points to 4.07 percent, while the two-week Shibor climbed 23.9 basis points to 4.55 percent.