IN BRIEF

Open market operations pause

China's central bank suspended open market operations on Friday, citing abundant liquidity in the financial system. "As rising fiscal spending near the end of month offsets maturing reverse repos, the liquidity level in the banking system is relatively high," the People's Bank of China said on its website. On Friday, 50 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) of reverse repos matured, meaning that market liquidity dropped by the same amount.

E-commerce seen growing 19%

The e-commerce market in China is expected to grow by about 19 percent year-on-year this year, a report said. The report, released by consultants McKinsey & Co, said China had entered "a new retail era." It said this was characterized by online and offline retail creating huge potential and demand, especially for customized products. The popularity of social media spurs online buying, it said. Many e-commerce traders that are expanding into online social networks, however, often offer lower quality services compared with that provided by major online shopping sites, the report added.

Malaysia's forex reserves up

Malaysia's central bank, Bank Negara, said on Thursday that its international reserves were 436.1 billion ringgit ($98.7 billion) on June 15. The total was 0.71 percent higher than the reserves of $98 billion on May 31.

Xinhua