China\'s new yuan loans down in February

China's new yuan-denominated lending stood at 644.5 billion yuan (105 billion U.S. dollars) in February, down from a four-year high in January, the central bank said Monday. The figure was less than half of January's 1.32 trillion yuan in new loans, but was 24.5 billion yuan higher than February 2013, according to a statement from the People's Bank of China (PBOC). Social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities through bank credit and other means, amounted to 938.7 billion yuan, down 131.8 billion yuan, or 12.3 percent, from a year earlier, the statement showed. M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 13.3 percent year on year to 113.2 trillion yuan at the end of February. The growth rate slowed by 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier, but was slightly up by 0.1 percentage point from a month ago, the PBOC said. The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, expanded 6.9 percent year on year to 31.66 trillion yuan at the end of last month.