Chinas bill and bond yields mostly rose on Monday in response to economic data that suggested the economy may start recovering as soon as the second quarter and as a regional bond sale attracted weak demand.
The government, confirming market talk in the past week that March economic data would be strong, said on the weekend that banks extended a record 1.89 trillion yuan ($276.6 billion) in yuan loans in March, up from Februarys 1.07 trillion yuan and Januarys 1.62 trillion yuan, the previous record.
Growth in the broad M2 measure of money supply hit a record 25.5 percent in March, up from 20.5 percent in February, the government said. Discounted bill financing accounted for 32.3 percent of total yuan lending in the first quarter, the central bank said, indicating that the proportion had dropped sharply in March from Februarys 45 percent and about 40 percent in January. It did not give an official breakdown for March.
Adding to the positive news for Chinas economy, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Saturday in Pattaya, Thailand, that the economy was in better shape than expected although it still faced big challenges. Wen said March industrial output growth, due for official release on Thursday, rose to 8.3 percent from a record low of 3.8 percent in the first two months of the year.