China's central bank keeps 3-month bill yield unchanged

    BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), or the central bank（中央银行）, auctioned¹ 50 billion yuan (7.61 billion U.S. dollars) of three-month bills at a yield of 2.7944 percent on Thursday, temporarily easing speculation² of an approaching interest rate hike.
    The yield on three-month bills stood unchanged from last week at 2.7944 percent.
    Also, PBOC sold 60 billion yuan (9.13 billion U.S. dollars) worth of 91-day repurchase(回购) agreements to banks on Thursday with a yield of 2.8 percent.
    Offsetting³ the 181 billion yuan (27.55 billion U.S. dollars) of bills and repurchase agreements that matured, PBOC took 49 billion yuan (7.46 billion U.S. dollars) of liquidity⁴ out of the money market this week through open market operations on Tuesday and Thursday.
    Market analysts⁶ have been watching PBOC's open market operations closely this week as the yield of its one-year bill sold on Tuesday exceeded the benchmark interest rate of one-year deposits, which some analysts interpret as a reason for an imminent⁷ interest rate hike.
    Chen Lan, an analyst⁵ with Guotai Junan Securities, said higher yields on central bank bills would boost PBOC's ability to absorb liquidity from the market amidst the country's economic tightening⁸ efforts.
    "But the hike of interest rates is not an imminent task for the central bank amid the slowdown of China's industrial investment in February, which weakened consumer confidence, and economic uncertainty⁹ overseas," Chen said.
    China's industrial value-added output grew 14.1 percent in the first two months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday.
    The growth rate during the first two months was up by 0.6 percentage points compared to that in December of last year, according to figures released by the NBS.
    Chen predicted that PBOC will reduce its frequency to raise banks' reserve requirement ratio in coming months but said the rate hike expectation would continue this year as the government is hoping to curb¹⁰ the red hot property market and soaring inflation.
    China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge¹¹ of inflation, rose 4.9 percent year on year in February, adding more monetary¹² tightening pressure to the government.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

3 offsetting   

n.偏置法v.抵消( offset的现在分词 )；补偿；（为了比较的目的而）把…并列（或并置）；为（管道等）装支管

参考例句：

• Dealers, having concluded a forward contract, should always hedge with an offsetting contract. 外汇经营商在签订了一项远期合同之后总是应进行套头交易签订一项相抵合同。 来自辞典例句
• Where does Germany think offsetting shifts into greater external deficits might occur? 在德国看来，这么大的外部赤字应该转移到哪里？ 来自互联网

4 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

7 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

8 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

9 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

10 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

11 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

12 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。