Central bank pumps more money into market

BEIJING - China's central bank pumped more money into the market Tuesday to ease a liquidity strain.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 65 billion yuan (about $10 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 repos were priced to yield 2.25 percent, unchanged from Monday's injection of 65 billion yuan, according to a PBOC statement. The injection saw a net 15 billion yuan pumped into the market Tuesday, offset by 50 billion yuan in maturing reverse repos.

In Tuesday's interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, fell 0.2 basis points to 2.002 percent after the injection. Shibor for two-week loans edged down 0.1 basis points to 2.778 percent.