China's central bank pumps in billions to ease liquidity strain

BEIJING - The central bank on Tuesday pumped the most funds into the financial system in open market operations since January 2014 amid efforts to ease a liquidity strain.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 150 billion yuan ($23.4 billion) of seven-day reverse repurchase agreements (repo), a process in which central banks purchase securities from banks with an agreement to resell them in the future.

The reverse repo was priced to yield 2.5 percent, unchanged from the yield on a net injection last week of 150 billion yuan using reverse repos, according to a PBOC's statement.

Liquidity in the money market has tightened due to dropping new yuan funds outstanding for foreign exchange and a depreciating Chinese yuan.

The PBOC also channelled another 110 billion yuan via its medium-term lending facility, which allows banks to borrow from the central bank by using securities as collateral.

Despite the cash injection, in Tuesday's interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one other, climbed by 1.3 basis points to 1.879 percent, a four-month high.