Total deposits with authorised institutions grew for the seventh consecutive month, by 3% in October.

The Monetary Authority said this was attributable to an expansion in both HK dollar and foreign currency deposits, of 3.7% and 2.1% respectively.

Among HK dollar deposits, demand deposits registered a notable increase of 27.5%, in part reflecting placements related to initial public offerings.

Total loans and advances grew 2.6%, with loans for use in and outside Hong Kong rising 2.9% and 0.1% respectively.

The rise in domestic loans was partly due to increased borrowings for purchasing new equity shares.

Meanwhile, analysed by currency, both HK dollar and foreign currency loans recorded an expansion. As HK dollar loans registered a smaller increase than deposits, the HK dollar loan-to-deposit ratio fell slightly to 82.7%.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, HK dollar M1 grew 1.6% during the month and by 26% over a year ago.

Unadjusted HK dollar M2 and M3 both rose by 3.3%, and by 7.1% and 6.9% respectively on a year-on-year comparison.