The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said Wednesday the financial market remained stable in the first four months with bond issuance up 43.7 percent year-on-year.

The central bank said the sharp rise was driven by policy banks' growing demand.

In April, interest rates in the money market tended to rise. Trading in the inter-bank market shrank slightly while bond repurchases rose over the previous month.

From January to April, transactions in the inter-bank loan market amounted to 4.8 trillion yuan (685.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 195.1 percent year-on-year.

Bond repurchases grew 48.1 percent to 16.7 trillion yuan.

Last week, the central bank said the financial system remained stable in quake-hit areas.

"In the affected areas in Sichuan, Chongqing, Gansu, Shaanxi provinces, cash supplies are adequate. Currency issue vaults are generally safe while the transportation and distribution of currency issuance funds have been smooth," the bank said in a statement.

The statement said the inter-bank foreign exchange trading network had continued normal operation. Trading on inter-bank bond market had followed its normal business schedule and the trading system operated soundly.

In the quake-stricken regions, all financial institutions were able to trade on the market except two that had power outages, it said.