China's bank lending halves in February

The number of new yuan loans made by Chinese banks halved in February and liquidity in the economy tightened, official data showed on Monday, which analysts said indicated the previous month's surge was not a sign of a policy shift. New bank loans totalled 644.5 billion yuan ($105 billion) in February, the People's Bank of China said, down from 1.3 trillion yuan in January and below market forecasts of 716 billion yuan.
Total social financing, a broad measure of liquidity and credit, fell sharply to 938.7 billion yuan from January's 2.58 trillion yuan. M2 money supply grew 13.3 percent in February from a year earlier, in line with forecasts. Outstanding yuan loans were 14.2 percent higher than a year earlier, also in line with forecasts. Chinese data in January and February can be distorted by the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays, which fell mainly in February this year, and as banks try to grab market share.