SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s central bank said it conducted its first operations under a swap facility designed to bolster the stock market, exchanging assets worth 50 billion yuan ($7.03 billion) with brokerages, fund companies and insurers on Monday.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said 20 institutions participated in the swap operations with a fee rate of 20 basis points.
The PBOC officially kicked off the swap facility on Friday, part of efforts to inject liquidity into the stock market and boost investor confidence.
Under the swap scheme, initially worth 500 billion yuan, brokerages, asset managers and insurers can obtain liquidity from the central bank through asset collateralisation to buy stocks.
Separately, more than 20 Chinese listed companies, including China Petroleum (OTC:) and Chemical Corp (Sinopec (OTC:)) and China Merchants Port Group announced plans to tap special central bank lending for share buybacks and purchases.
($1 = 7.1111 renminbi)
