BEIJING, June 8 -- The central bank on Wednesday allowed 40 billion yuan (6.1 billion U.S. dollars) to drain from the market.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) put 55 billion yuan into seven-day reverse repos, a process by which central banks purchase securities from banks with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

The reverse repos were priced to yield 2.25 percent, according to a PBOC statement.

Reverse repos worth 95 billion yuan matured on Wednesday, so the central bank has effectively drained 40 billion yuan from the market.

On Wednesday's interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) rose to 2 percent.