The highest overnight rate for pledged repo - a short-term financing business - hit 50% on Tuesday, according to official interbank data, although the average rate remains modest at roughly 3.6%.
Two-day repo rates jumped to as high as 30%, and the highest rate for seven-day repos was 12%.
Several traders at small lenders were still seeking to borrow money in later afternoon trading when contacted by Reuters.
The brokerage attributed the cash shortage to a "record supply" of government bonds, as well as restricted channels for banks to borrow money.
The average seven-day repo rate - a widely watched indictor of short-term borrowing costs in China - remained modest at 2.0765% on Tuesday, meaning many institutions can still borrow money at relatively low rates.
Persons:
Thomas White, repos, Fan, Ming Ming, Ed Osmond, Kirsten Donovan
Organizations:
REUTERS, Rights, Guolian Securities, Reuters, Caitong Securities, Citic Securities, Shanghai, Thomson
Locations:
China