BEIJING, Dec. 19 -- China's central bank conducted 119 billion yuan (about 16.76 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.8 percent Tuesday.

It also conducted 182 billion yuan of 14-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.95 percent.

The move aims to keep liquidity reasonable and ample at the end of the year, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.

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.