BEIJING, July 15 -- China's new yuan-denominated lending in June rose to 1.38 trillion yuan (about 205.97 billion U.S. dollars), up 104.4 billion yuan from a year earlier, official data showed on Friday.

The figure, which surpassed market estimates of around one trillion yuan, was the second-largest this year after the 2.51 trillion yuan recorded in January.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 11.8 percent year on year to 149.05 trillion yuan by the end of June, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website.

The growth was unchanged from that in May but slower than the 13-percent annual target set by the government.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 24.6 percent year on year to 44.36 trillion yuan.

The better-than-expected money supply data in June is a reflection of stronger policy effort to stabilize economic growth, HSBC economist Li Jing said.

She said the accommodative monetary conditions had helped support fiscal expansion, and led to further stabilization in China's economy, which grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter, level with the first quarter.

Li forecast that the policies would continue in the second half, given China's cooling housing market and slowing private sector investment.

The central bank data showed newly-added social finance, a gauge of funds that firms and households get from the financial system, amounted to 1.63 trillion yuan in June, up 945.7 billion yuan from May.

That brought the total newly-added social finance for the first half of the year to 9.75 trillion yuan, up 961.8 billion yuan from the same period a year before.