Reuters reported that China's central bank kept the interest rate unchanged on Friday as it rolled over maturing medium-term policy loans, matching market expectations, despite Beijing calling for more monetary stimulus to cushion an economic slowdown.

''The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it was keeping the rate on 150 billion yuan ($23.52 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loan of some financial institutions unchanged at 2.85% from the previous operation.''

''With 150 billion yuan worth of MLF loans maturing on Friday, the operation resulted in zero net cash injection into the banking system.''

''The central bank also injected 10 billion yuan through seven-day reverse repos while keeping the borrowing cost unchanged at 2.1%, according to an online statement.''