BEIJING, May 5 -- China's central bank on Thursday pumped more money into the market to ease a liquidity strain.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 130 billion yuan (20 billion U.S. dollars) in seven-day reverse repurchase agreements (repo), a process in which central banks purchase securities from banks with an agreement to resell them in the future.

The reverse repo was priced to yield 2.25 percent, unchanged from Wednesday's injection of 100 billion yuan, according to a PBOC statement.

The move followed a net injection of 100 billion yuan into the financial system on Tuesday.

On Thursday's interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, was up by 0.1 basis points to 2.001 percent.