China's central bank cut the country's benchmark interest rate last night for the first time in more than six years, in the face of global financial turmoil and signs of a slowing domestic economy.

The People's Bank of China lowered the one-year lending rate by 27 basis points to 7.2 per cent per annum, after years of gradual increases aimed at combating inflation and reining in what some saw as an overheating economy.