Wen Bin, chief analyst at China Minsheng Bank

The move was in line with market expectations as the maturity of 600 billion yuan of reverse repos in January, coupled with tax payments and higher cash demand during the Spring Festival, will put strains on liquidity.

Wen expected the reduction to lead to lower pricing of the new loan prime rate (LPR) to be announced later this month, with the one-year LPR at 4.1 percent and the above-five-year LPR at 4.75 percent. Noting the move will shore up market confidence, Wen said there is still room for further RRR cuts.