China central bank continues to ease liquidity strain

BEIJING - China's central bank continued to pump money into the financial system on Friday through open market operations.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) of reverse repurchase agreements (repo), in which central banks purchase securities from banks with agreements to resell them in the future.

The seven-day reverse repo was priced to yield 2.25 percent.

The move followed a seven-day reverse repo of 20 billion yuan on Thursday, 15 billion yuan on Wednesday, 30 billion yuan on Tuesday.

On Friday's interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one other, fell by 20 basis points to 1.945 percent.