China top 4 banks' new loans grow in Oct -paper

SHANGHAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - China's top four state-owned commercial banks extended new loans of about 136 billion yuan ($19.9 billion) in October, up 23 percent from a month earlier, the official China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.

New loans handed out by Chinese banks in October were likely higher than expectations, reaching 300 to 400 billion yuan, the Shanghai Securities News said.

Chinese banks issued 516.7 billion yuan of new loans in September, according to the country's central bank. [ID:nPEK21630]

Among the top four banks, Bank of China (601988.SS)(3988.HK) was the top lender for October with new loans worth 44 billion yuan. China Construction Bank (0939.HK) (601939.SS) handed out 36 billion yuan of new loans, the China Securities Journal said, quoting sources familiar with the situation.

New loans from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (1398.HK)(601398.SS) rose about 10 percent on the month to 33 billion yuan. Agricultural Bank of China's loans fell to 23 billion yuan from over 30 billion yuan a month earlier, the paper said. ($1=6.826 Yuan) (Reporting by Rujun Shen and Jacqueline Wong; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)