SHANGHAI - China's central bank said on Wednesday that it would auction a combined 38 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) of three-month and three-year bills on Thursday, stepping up its money market operations as liquidity conditions have improved.

Related readings:  PBOC keeps 3-month bill yield unchanged  PBOC injects 67b yuan into banks this week  Central bank to sell 6b yuan 3-month bills

The People's Bank of China will resume three-year bill issuance after a brief suspension last week. Also last week, it floated only 1 billion yuan in three-month bills amid a money market liquidity squeeze over the past two weeks.

The breakdown for this week's issues will be 15 billion yuan in three-month bills and 23 billion yuan in three-year bills, the central bank said in a statement.

A total of 122 billion yuan in central bank bills and repos are due to mature this week. The PBOC already drained 3 billion yuan via one-year bills this week. It could also conduct 91-day government bond repurchase agreement business on Thursday.

The PBOC conducted a net injection of 59 billion yuan into the banking system last week.