The central bank pumped 1.2 trillion yuan into the financial system via reverse repos on February 3. The move aims to offset the impact of reverse repos maturing and the concentrated maturing of financial market funds and keep liquidity in the banking system at a reasonably sufficient level in the epidemic control period.

Profits for China's major industrial firms dropped 3.3 percent year on year in 2019, widening from a 2.1-percent decrease registered during the first 11 months of last year. Factors such as declining demand, lower prices of industrial products and rising costs have led to the fall in profits.

Shanghai, China's business and financial center, reported solid growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019 following a series of measures to further open up more sectors to foreign investors. A total of 6,800 FDI projects were signed last year, up 21.5 percent year on year.