BEIJING, April 11 -- China's new yuan-denominated loans totaled 3.89 trillion yuan (about 564.73 billion U.S. dollars) in March, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The figure showed an increase of 749.7 billion yuan from the same period last year, and was up from 1.81 trillion yuan in February, according to the People's Bank of China.

New yuan-denominated loans amounted to 10.6 trillion yuan during the first quarter, up 2.27 trillion yuan from a year ago.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 12.7 percent year on year to 281.46 trillion yuan at the end of last month.

The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than the figure seen at the end of February, and was 3 percentage points higher than that for the same period last year.

The M1, which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, stood at 67.81 trillion yuan at the end of March, up 5.1 percent year on year.

The M0, the amount of cash in circulation, expanded 11 percent from a year ago to 10.56 trillion yuan at the end of last month.