The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced late Tuesday that it would cut the interest rate on its one-year Pledged Supplemental Lending (PSL) by 25 basis points to 1.5% (from 1.75%) to fund investments in water conservancy, power grids, computing, telecommunications, and other infrastructure projects. Following this, mainland Chinese stock markets opened slightly higher on Wednesday, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.23% to 3,839 points and the Shenzhen Component Index gaining 0.44%. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong, however, fell 129 points, or 0.53%, opening at 24,393 points.