BEIJING, Jun. 1 -- The People's Bank of China sold one-year bills at a yield of 2.0096 percent, compared with 1.9264 percent last week, according to traders at Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China Ltd.

That was the first time the central bank pushed up the interest rates on one-year bills since Jan 19. It offered 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) of the securities at the auction today.