China c.bank to sell 46 bln yuan 3-mth bills

SHANGHAI, Nov 25 - China's central bank said on Wednesday that it would auction 46 billion yuan in three-month bills in its open market operations on Thursday, down from 55 billion yuan of such bills sold last week.

On Tuesday, the People's Bank of China drained 11 billion yuan via a sale of one-year bills, and mopped up another 40 billion yuan through 28-day bond repurchase agreements.

A total of 125 billion yuan in central bank bills and repos will mature this week. The PBOC may also drain funds via short-term repos on Thursday.

The central bank conducted a net drain of 93 billion yuan from the market last week, having drained a combined net 663 billion yuan over the previous six weeks as it stepped up a fight against excessive liquidity in the Chinese system, partly propelled by renewed inflows of speculative funds into China. ((jianxin.lu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 21 6104 1792; Reuters Messaging: jianxin.lu.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))