China's central bank drained 15 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) from the banking system Thursday, up a tad from last week but small relative to the weekly amounts that preceded October��s interest rate hike.

The People's Bank of China sold three-month bills, with yields holding steady at 2.5023 percent after a public tender, it said in a statement on the official Web site for bond issues (www.chinabond.com.cn).

The central bank sold 12 billion yuan worth of bills Thursday last week.

Keeping a lid on funds in the system has been a crucial aspect of the government's steps to gently slow its economy.

But the central bank had scaled back its open market operations since raising interest rates for the first time in nine years Oct. 28, helping the market digest the move and sending a signal it would not constrict funds unduly �� for now.

The average weekly volume of bank bills sold every Thursday had hovered around 10 billion yuan in the weeks after the move, versus an average of 36.7 billion yuan in the three weeks preceding the rate hike.

The central bank conducts weekly open market operations with banks, insurers, brokerages and rural credit cooperatives on Shanghai��s interbank market.

It issues bills with a maturity of up to a year and enters into repurchase agreements every Tuesday and Thursday.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies