PBOC conducts record reverse repos to ease liquidity

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, on Tuesday pumped massive liquidity into the interbank market through open market operations.

The central bank injected a record high of 395 billion yuan (62.7 billion U.S. dollars) into the financial system via reverse repos in order to ease a cash squeeze at the end of the month, according to a statement from the PBOC's website.

The central bank conducted seven-day reverse repos worth 290 billion yuan and offered 105 billion yuan in 14-day contracts. Bid interest rates remain stable at 3.35 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, the statement said.

Shi Lei, an analyst at Ping'an Securities, said PBOC's massive repo injection demonstrates its intention to stabilize market rates and bring them down to its target range.

The central bank prefers reverse repos over reserve requirement ratio cuts when easing money supplies to prevent a rebound in housing and commodity prices.

"Open market operations will become the central bank's most important monetary policy tools in managing liquidity," said Guo Tianyong, a banking researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics.