BEIJING - The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, auctioned 4 billion yuan ($626 million) in three-month bills at a yield of 3.16 percent on September 8. The yield on three-month bills remained unchanged from last week.

Hedging against 176 billion yuan in matured bills and repurchase agreements, the PBOC released 100 billion yuan into the money market this week through open market operations on Sept 6 and 8, the largest liquidity injection in 12 weeks. The central bank's net liquidity injection will temporarily relieve tight capital conditions for commercial banks, whose cash has been squeezed by the PBOC's new rules ordering banks to include margin deposits in their required reserves.

According to the new rules, which went into effect on Sept 5, China's commercial banks will have to keep 900 billion yuan in reserve over the next six months due to the government's new approach toward mopping up market liquidity amid lingering inflationary pressure.

The National Bureau of Statistics will release consumer price index (CPI) data for August on Sept 9; many economists expect the CPI to remain around 6 percent. The CPI spiked to a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July.