China c.bank to drain 20 bln yuan via repos

SHANGHAI, Nov 19 - China's central bank will drain 20 billion yuan from the money market on Thursday through 91-day bond repurchase agreements, traders said.

This is in addition to the People's Bank of China's planned drain of 55 billion yuan via the sale of three-month bills later on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the PBOC drained 18 billion yuan via a sale of one-year bills, and mopped up another 95 billion yuan through 28-day bond repurchase agreements.

Since a total of 95 billion yuan in PBOC bills and repos will mature this week, the PBOC appears set to conduct a net drain of 93 billion yuan from the market for the week after draining a net 81 billion yuan last week and 123 billion yuan the week before that. (Reporting by Li Hongwei and Karen Yeung; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)