Hong Kong yuan deposits fall 1.7 pct in Feb vs Jan

HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) - Yuan deposits in Hong Kong,
an offshore market for the Chinese currency, decreased to 566.2
billion yuan ($89.79 billion) in February, down 1.7 percent from
a month earlier, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on
Friday.

Cross-border trade settled in yuan rose 19.9 percent in
February on a month-on-month basis to 187.5 billion yuan.

The following are yuan deposit data:

___2012___ ___________2011___________
Hong Kong Deposits: Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep
Yuan (or Rmb bln) 566.2 576.0 588.5 627.3 618.5 622.2
pct change m/m -1.7 -2.1 -6.2 1.4 -0.6 2.2
pct of total deposits 9.0 9.3 9.5 10.3 10.1 10.4

Total (HK$ bln) 7,736 7,674 7,591 7,528 7,466 7,324

Total yuan remittances for cross-border trade settlement
(through Hong Kong's banking system):

___2012___ ___________2011__________

Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep
(bln yuan) 187.5 156.4 239.0 185.0 161.5 190.6
pct change m/m 19.9 -34.6 29.2 14.5 -15.3 2.6

(1 Yuan = HK$1.232)
($1 = 6.3060 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Christina Lo; Editing by Joseph Radford)