China's new yuan-denominated lending rose to 2.51 trillion yuan ($385 billion) in January, an increase of 71 percent from a year earlier and well above market forecasts, government data showed on Tuesday. Last month's new yuan loans were also about four times those posted in December.

Social finance, a measurement of funds that nonfinancial firms and households obtain from the financial system, stood at 3.42 trillion yuan, compared with 1.81 trillion yuan in December, the People's Bank of China said on its website.

Tom Orlik, chief Asia economist at Bloomberg, said, "New finance for January came in at a monster 3.42 trillion yuan, ... smashing expectations of a 2.2 trillion yuan total.