The bank halted its government bond purchases Friday in an attempt to slow a one-way bonds trade that's put unwanted downward pressure on the yuan, analysts say.

The unexpected action is intended to tamp down a potential bubble in the bond market fueled by investors shunning riskier assets like stocks and real estate.

The People's Bank of China (PBC) announced on Friday that it has decided to temporarily suspend treasury bond purchases in the open market, starting from this month. The central bank said the decision was made as demand exceeded supply on the government bond market recently,