China's bank lending nearly halved in October compared with the month before, the central bank said Thursday, reflecting lack of demand despite an interest rate cut aimed at boosting the flagging economy, the world's second-largest.

Chinese banks extended 513.6 billion yuan ($80.7 billion) in new loans in October, the People's Bank of China said in a statement, down from 1.05 trillion yuan in September.

The sharp decline came despite the central bank cutting interest rates last month, the sixth such move since November last year.

"The decline in new loans was partly due to the week-long National Day holidays in the beginning of October," ANZ Banking Group said in a research note.

But it added the fall reflected "lack of demand and commercial banks' caution… due to rising non-performing loans".

Separately, total social financing — an alternative measure of credit in the real economy — was 476.7 billion yuan in October, down sharply from 1.30 trillion yuan in September and missing a median forecast of 1.05 trillion yuan in a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.

"The dive in social credit… reflects that the real economy is feeble and efficient demand is lacking," Liu Dongliang, a senior analyst at China Merchants Bank in Shenzhen, said in a research note.

Chinese growth hit a 24-year low in 2014 and has slowed further this year, raising concerns on global markets. The country logged its worst economic performance since the global financial crisis in the third quarter, with growth of just 6.9 percent.

Analyst said the weak lending figures underline the need for further loosening of monetary policy to boost the economy through more cuts in interest rates and bank reserve ratios — the amount of funds banks must keep aside.

"This will put an end to the argument of whether there will be further monetary policy (easing) in the near future," Liu said.

China launches new 'harder to fake' 100 yuan note
Beijing (AFP) Nov 12, 2015 –

China on Thursday put into circulation a new version of its 100-yuan banknote — the highest denomination available in the world's second-largest economy — with added golden touches that the government said was harder to forge.

The note, worth just under $16, retains its overall red colour, with Communist founder Mao Zedong on one side and Beijing's Great Hall of the People on the other.

But the main "100" becomes gold, rather than red and blue, prompting some Chinese media to dub it the "tuhao jin" note, or "high-roller gold".

More security features were added, including widening the security strip, to make it "easier for machines to read" and "more convenient for the public to distinguish the authentic notes from the fakery", the central People's Bank of China (PBOC) said previously.

Counterfeiting is rampant in China with the country's own currency no exception, despite numerous crackdowns by authorities.

Police in the southern province of Guangdong announced in September that they seized piles of forged 100-yuan banknotes with a face value of 210 million yuan in a raid, according to reports.

"Some law breakers kept adopting new technologies to counterfeit the renminbi," the PBOC said in an August statement, using the official name for the currency.

"We must… constantly improve the anti-counterfeiting technologies and the printing quality of the legal tender," it said.

China's Communists issued the first generation of renminbi — literally "people's money" — in December 1948, before completing their takeover of the country.

The newest version was distributed to banks in the capital by 43 armoured cars, escorted by security guards, reported the Mirror, a local newspaper.