PBOC continues to boost liquidity

BEIJING — China's central bank on Wednesday continued to inject liquidity into the financial system for a third consecutive day through open market operations.

The operations included 70 billion yuan ($10.57 billion) of seven-day reverse repos, with an interest rate of 2.45 percent, and 60 billion yuan of 28-day reverse repos, with an interest rate of 2.75 percent, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website.

Offset by 70 billion yuan of maturing reverse repos, the net injection on Wednesday stood at 60 billion yuan, the third consecutive day of net injections.

Lending costs between banks have been rising since the beginning of the month, with the overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate rising to 2.79 percent Wednesday.

The central bank has increasingly relied on open market operations for liquidity management, rather than cuts in interest rates or reserve requirement ratios.

China has vowed to pursue a "prudent and neutral" monetary policy in 2017, apply a full range of policy instruments to maintain basic stability in liquidity and hold interest rates at an appropriate level.