Central bank to continue open market operations each business day

BEIJING - China's central bank decided Thursday to continue to conduct open market operations every working day, according to a notice.

The People's Bank of China will provide a written announcement and explanation if a daily open market operation is canceled due to reasons such as low market demand.

On Jan 29, 2016, the bank temporarily increased the frequency of its open market operations to every working day around the Lunar New Year holiday, compared with twice a week previously on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The massive liquidity injection was intended to satisfy surging cash demand ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which started on Feb 7.

The Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, fell 1.7 basis points to 1.951 percent on Thursday.