BEIJING - China's central bank pumped 170 billion yuan ($24 billion) into the financial system Thursday.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected 120 billion yuan into the market through seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.55 percent, and conducted 50 billion yuan of 14-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.7 percent.

With no reverse repos maturing Thursday, this led to a net injection of 170 billion yuan.

The moves aimed to ensure stable liquidity near the end of the third quarter, the PBOC statement said.

A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

China will keep its prudent monetary policy "neither too tight nor too loose" while maintaining market liquidity at a reasonably ample level in 2019.