Chinese banks extend 800 bln yuan of new loans in Jan -paper

SHANGHAI Feb 8 (Reuters) - Chinese banks extended about 800 billion yuan ($126.9 billion) in new loans in January, including 320 billion yuan from China's "Big Four" state lenders, the official China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.

About 50 billion yuan worth of new loans were extended by the top four banks -- Industrial & Commercial Bank of China , China Construction Bank , Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China -- during the first three working days in January, the newspaper said.

The government capped new loans in January for the "Big Four" banks at 340 billion yuan, and has urged them to control their lending, according to the article.

China's banks ratcheted up lending in the last month of 2011 amid stronger money supply, reinforcing perceptions that the central bank is gently easing policy to cushion the impact of the global economic slowdown.

They extended 640.5 billion yuan in new loans in December, up from 562.2 billion yuan in November.

($1 = 6.3049 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Samuel Shen and Kazunori Takada; Editing by Ken Wills)