BEIJING, April 25 -- China's central bank on Monday pumped more money into the market to ease a liquidity strain.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 180 billion yuan (27.6 billion U.S. dollars) of 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 Friday's injection of 240 billion yuan, according to a PBOC statement.

The move followed a net injection of 260 billion yuan and 250 billion yuan into the financial system on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.

In Monday's interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, climbed by 0.7 basis points to 2.045 percent.