BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's new yuan-denominated loans hit 2.9 trillion yuan (about 458.2 billion U.S. dollars) for January, 867 billion yuan more than the same period a year earlier and a record high, central bank data showed Monday.

The amount was above the market forecast of around 2.1 trillion yuan and nearly five times the level in December, when new yuan lending stood at 584.4 billion yuan.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, reached 172.1 trillion yuan at the end of January, up 8.6 percent year on year, compared with an 8.1-percent increase a month earlier, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement.

The narrower measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 15 percent year on year to 54.3 trillion yuan at the end of January. The growth rate was 3.2 percentage points higher than a month earlier.

M0, the amount of cash in circulation, dropped 13.8 percent to 7.5 trillion yuan.

January also saw a net cash injection of 399.1 billion yuan, according to the PBOC.

Total social finance, a broad measure of funds that non-financial firms and households get from the financial system, reached 3.1 trillion yuan last month, 636.7 billion yuan less than a year earlier.

New yuan deposits stood at 3.9 trillion yuan, 2.4 trillion yuan more than the same period of last year.