BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank on Tuesday resumed open market operations to inject liquidity into the money market after suspension for 18 consecutive trading days.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 40 billion yuan (about 5.96 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.55 percent.

No reverse repos will mature on Tuesday.

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

The PBOC said Monday that China's monetary policy should be "neither too loose nor too tight," while liquidity will be kept at a reasonable and ample level, according to a statement issued after a quarterly meeting of the monetary policy committee.