China's central bank reported an 82.8-percent jump in the amount of inter-bank bonds issued in August over the same period last year, mainly boosted by the 600 billion yuan (79.9 billion US dollars) worth of special treasury bonds issued on Aug. 29.

Bonds worth 852 billion yuan (113.4 billion US dollars) were issued on the inter-bank market, more than triple the figure for July. More than 70 percent of the bonds issued were special treasury bonds, part of government's retrenching monetary policy to soak up excess liquidity.

An increase in financial bonds issued by policy banks also contributed to the soaring supply, according to a central bank report on financial market performance in August released on Wednesday.

The first eight months witnessed brisk bond trading, with a total turnover of 9.04 trillion yuan (1.2 trillion US dollars). In August alone, the turnover reached 1.78 trillion yuan.

Despite a sharp increase in bond issuance that pulled money away from the stock market, the stock trade remained active. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 918.26 points or 21.4 percent to 5218.82 points in August, with average daily turnover of 155.06 billion yuan (20.6 billion US dollars).

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2007)