IN BRIEF (Page 7)

PBOC drains 20b yuan from money market

The People's Bank of China drained 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) from the financial system through open market operations on Friday, with the volume of maturing securities exceeding new injections. The central bank pumped 120 billion yuan through reverse repos, with 140 billion yuan of contracts maturing, leading to a net withdrawal of 20 billion yuan. The operations included 90 billion yuan of seven-day reverse repo priced to yield 2.45 percent, and 30 billion yuan of 14-day contracts with a yield of 2.6 percent. Friday marked the second consecutive day of liquidity drain in the money market.

China-Africa trade surges 19% in H1