The People's Bank of China will not raise interest rates further in the second half, Reuters reported, quoting Sheng Songcheng, an adviser to the central bank, as speaking to state-run China News Service.

Market interest rates rose during the first quarter after the central bank shifted to slight policy tightening at the start of the year.

"Financial market rates, in general, will not go up again in the second half, but will stay stable or even fall slightly," Songcheng was quoted as saying.

The comment comes amid weaker-than-expected July economic data and China's ongoing program to contain debt.

Meanwhile, Songcheng said the central bank would prefer monetary policy tools to increase money supply, rather than cutting banks' reserve requirement ratio again.