China left its benchmark lending rate for corporate and household loans unchanged for a seventh straight month at its November fixing on Friday, matching market expectations.
The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was kept unchanged at 3.85%, while the five-year LPR remained at 4.65%.
Most new and outstanding loans are based on the LPR, while the five-year rate influences the pricing of mortgages.
Thirty-one out of 36 traders and analysts in a snap Reuters poll predicted no change in either the one-year or five-year LPRs, although four predicted an increase.
The rate decision came after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) kept borrowing costs on the medium-term lending facility (MLF) unchanged for a seventh straight month this week.
MLF, one of the PBOC's main tools in managing longer-term liquidity in the banking system, serves as a guide for the LPR.
The LPR is a lending reference rate set monthly by 18 banks. The PBOC revamped the mechanism to price LPR in August 2019, loosely pegging it to the MLF rate.