BEIJING (WAM)

China's central bank conducted 258 billion yuan ($36.18 billion) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.7 percent Wednesday.

Xinhua News Agency quoted a statement from the People's Bank of China as saying that the move aims to keep liquidity reasonable and ample in the banking system at the end of this month.

A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.