China bank lending up in September

Beijing - China's bank lending increased in September from a month ago, the central bank said on Thursday, after authorities stepped up efforts to boost slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Chinese lenders extended 1.05 trillion yuan in new loans last month, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement, up from 809.6 billion yuan in August.

Total social financing - an alternative measure of credit in the real economy - reached 1.30 trillion yuan in September, it said separately, higher than 1.08 trillion yuan in August and exceeding the median estimate of 1.2 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

"Credit data beat market expectations," Nomura economists said in a research note.

The figures "offer tentative signs that growth momentum may have stabilised, but at a relatively weak level in September, possibly helped by the significant monetary policy easing rolled out so far", they said.

China is a key driver of global growth but concerns over its prospects have roiled world markets in recent months. The economy expanded 7.3% last year, the lowest since 1990, and expansion weakened to 7.0% in each of the first two quarters this year.

The central bank in late August cut interest rates for the fifth time since November and last month again slashed bank reserve ratios.

It has continued to inject liquidity into the market through unconventional operations, such as expanding a programme last week that allows banks to borrow using loans they themselves have made as collateral.

"The amount of aggregate social financing is expected to increase in Q4 on the back of PBoC's direct monetary policy easing and unconventional liquidity injection," ANZ analysts said in a report.

They expected bank reserve ratios to be further reduced by 50 basis points in the final three months this year.

China's foreign exchange reserves - the biggest in the world - stood at $3.51trn at the end of September, down from $3.56trn a month ago, according to the central bank.

September marked the fifth consecutive month reserves fell.

In August, it slumped by a record $93.9bn as Beijing sold dollars to support its own currency following jitters over a sudden devaluation.