New loans higher than expected

Chinese banks made 852.7 billion yuan ($137.8 billion) worth of new loans in November, data showed on Friday, well above market expectations but still unlikely to dispel worries about the country's sputtering economic growth.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in the same online statement that China's broad M2 money supply rose 12.3 percent in November from a year ago, slightly less than expected.

Bank lending and changes in money supply are crucial parts of China's monetary policy. The government tells commercial banks how much to lend and when to lend each year.

Analysts had expected banks to make 650 billion yuan worth of loans last month, but sources told Reuters this week that Beijing had ordered lenders to extend more credit in the final months of 2014 to spur activity and avert the risk of a sharper economic slowdown.

The data showed outstanding loans denominated in yuan rose 13.4 percent in November from a year earlier, compared with estimates for a 13 percent increase. Total social financing, a broad measure of liquidity invented by the central bank, was 1.15 trillion yuan last month, up sharply from October's 662.7 billion yuan.

Investors have been rattled by wobbles in China's economy this year as slowing domestic investment and a cooling housing market dragged growth to a five-year low of 7.3 percent in the third quarter.

Reuters