BEIJING, July 20 -- China's central bank continued to inject funds into the financial system through open market operations Thursday.

The People's Bank of China said it conducted 26 billion yuan (about 3.64 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.9 percent.

The move is aimed at keeping liquidity reasonable and ample in the banking system, the central bank said.

A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.