China's central bank drains 110b yuan from market

BEIJING - China's central bank suspended open market operations on Friday as liquidity remained ample following the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cut for some commercial banks.

On Friday, 110 billion yuan ($16.58 billion) of reverse repo contracts matured, leading to a net withdrawal of 110 billion yuan from the money market.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said a relatively high liquidity level in the banking system can offset the impact of maturing securities.

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

On Thursday, the central bank reduced the RRR for some commercial banks by 50 basis points, releasing a total of 700 billion yuan into the banking system.

PBOC said the cut, the third this year following reductions in January and April, was "a targeted, precision regulation" to boost funding for small and micro firms as well as support the debt-to-equity swap program.

China will maintain a prudent and neutral monetary policy in 2018 as it balances growth and risk prevention.