Central bank injects 35b yuan into market

BEIJING - The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, has injected 35 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) into the money market through open market operations, it announced on Thursday.

This marked the fifth consecutive cash injection the central bank has carried out through regular reverse repurchase agreements (repo) since June 25.

The yield for the latest seven-day reverse repo stood at 2.5 percent, according to the central bank.

The PBOC also pumped 50 billion yuan into the money market on Tuesday through reverse repo operations.

With 50 billion yuan in seven-day reverse repurchase agreements due this week, the central bank's net cash injection for the week hit 35 billion yuan.

A reverse repurchase agreement is the purchase of securities with the agreement to sell them at a higher price at a specific future date.

Since June, the central bank has resorted to reverse repo operations and medium-term lending facilities (MLF) to inject liquidity into the market. The PBOC extended a six-month MLF worth 250 billion yuan at an interest rate of 3.35 percent to 11 banks last Friday. It also lowered interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio on June 28.