China's benchmark overnight repo rate rises to highest in five months

China's primary money rates rose on Thursday as a modest cash injection by the central bank was unable to offset strong market demand.

The volume-weighted average of China's benchmark overnight repo rate rose 22 basis points to 2.2625%, the highest since Feb. 3.

Traders said many financial institutions found it hard to square their books in the morning session.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected a net 50 billion yuan ($7.15 billion) via open market operations on Thursday morning, bringing the total net fund injections to 130 billion yuan so far this week to offset the impact of quarterly tax payments, which have a deadline of July 15.

But interbank liquidity was yet to recover on Thursday, traders said. [CN/MMT]

($1 = 6.9954 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Kim Coghill)