New Delhi, June 20 -- China decided to hold its benchmark lending rates steady, as expected, on Friday. Beijing had rolled out many measures last month to make borrowing cheaper and boost the economy.

Reuters reported that the one-year loan prime rate (LPR), which influences the interest on most new and outstanding loans, was kept at 3.00 per cent.

On the other hand, the five-year LPR, which is important for pricing mortgages, was unchanged at 3.50 per cent, according to a Reuters report.

Financial experts and market watchers were pretty confident that China would not change these rates this month. In a recent Reuters poll of 20 market participants, the news agency said, all participants predicted no change to either of the two rates....