China bank lending up in September

China's bank lending increased in September from a month ago, the central bank said Thursday, after authorities stepped up efforts to boost slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy. Chinese lenders extended 1.05 trillion yuan ($165.4 billion) in new loans last month, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement, up from 809.6 billion yuan in August. Total social financing -- an alternative measure of credit in the real economy -- reached 1.30 trillion yuan in September, it s