BEIJING, Jan. 25 -- China's central bank conducted 466 billion yuan (about 65.6 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.8 percent Thursday.

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

As 100 billion yuan of reverse repos matured on the same day, the operation led to a net injection of 366 billion yuan into the market.

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.