BEIJING, June 18 -- China's central bank conducted 86 billion yuan (12.11 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.8 percent Tuesday.

The move aims to keep liquidity reasonable and ample in the banking system, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.

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.