Central bank injects funds to market

China's central bank took targeted monetary policy measures on Monday to calm stock market and fill the liquidity gap for small and medium-sized banks, building a cushion to stabilize economic growth amid trade tensions.

Unlike conventional measures, this new type of targeted reserve requirement ratio cut will release 280 billion yuan ($41.39 billion) kept by only 1,000 banks in the central bank, the monetary authority said.

That amount of cash, to be injected into the financial system from May 15, was smaller than any of the former five injections since January 2018. And all the freed funds will be used for loans to private, micro and small companies, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a statement.