BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China's new yuan-denominated loans in February stood at 839.3 billion yuan (about 132.3 billion U.S. dollars), 326.4 billion yuan less than the same period a year earlier, central bank data showed Friday.

The amount, slightly above the market forecast of around 800 billion yuan, declined markedly from a record-high 2.9 trillion yuan in January.

"The decline was under market expectations, as February saw fewer weekdays due to the Spring Festival holiday," said E Yongjian, Bank of Communications senior analyst.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, reached 172.91 trillion yuan at the end of February, up 8.8 percent year on year, compared with an 8.6-percent increase a month earlier, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.

The narrower measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 8.5 percent year on year to 51.7trillion yuan at the end of February. The growth rate was 12.9 percentage points down from a year ago.

M0, the amount of cash in circulation, rose 13.5 percent to 8.14 trillion yuan.

February saw a net cash injection of 678.8 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, increased by 1.17 trillion yuan last month, 82.8 billion yuan more than a year earlier.