China's new yuan-dominated lending in April expanded to 774 billion yuan (113.35 billion U.S. dollars) from 510.7 billion yuan in March, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a statement Tuesday.

It was also an increase of 182.2 billion yuan from the same period last year, according to the statement published on its website.

The April figure brought new loans in the first four months to more than 3.37 trillion yuan, nearing half the total of 7.5 trillion yuan China has targeted for the full year.

Analysts said the amount of new lending in April was above market expectations but was still reasonable.

Ding Zhijie, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the April loan figure reflected China's real economy was still on track for a good recovery and private investment was on the rise.

He expected the pace of bank lending would continue to even out as required by the country's banking regulator, after banks lent 1.39 trillion yuan in January this year and a record 9.59 trillion yuan last year.

To mop up excessive cash in the market, the central bank has raised the deposit reserve requirement ratio for most financial institutions three times this year amid growing pressure caused by inflation and property price increases.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, picked up at faster rate in April rising 2.8 percent year on year. Home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities increased 12.8 percent last month, a record high since 2005.

Tang Min, vice secretary-general of China Development Research Foundation, said the tightening policy on the property market, unveiled in April, had not affected lending much yet. However, he expected a decline in credit in May.

China's broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 21.48 percent year on year to about 65.66 trillion yuan by the end of April, the statement said. The year-on-year increase was 22.5 percent at the end of March.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, climbed 31.25 percent from a year ago to 23.39 trillion yuan by April end. The growth was 29.94 percent in March.