China's loan prime rates remain unchanged

China's one-year loan prime rate (LPR), a market-based benchmark lending rate, came in at 3.45 percent Monday, unchanged from the previous month.

The over-five-year LPR, on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, also remained unchanged from the previous reading of 4.2 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center.

Based on the quotes made by quoting banks by adding a few basis points to the interest rate of open-market operations, the LPR is calculated by the center, serving as the pricing reference for bank lending.

"Generally speaking, if the interest rate of the one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) remains unchanged, the probability of an LPR change is low," said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Merchants Union Consumer Finance Company Limited.

On November 15 this year, the People's Bank of China injected 1.45 trillion yuan (US$202 billion) into the market through one-year MLF with an interest rate of 2.5 percent, the same rate as the previous operation.

The MLF tool helps commercial and policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing them to borrow from the central bank using securities as collateral.