HONG KONG - Hong Kong's total deposits fell 0.9 percent in March, with a 1.6-percent drop in Hong Kong-dollar deposits, the Monetary Authority said.

Overall foreign-currency deposits fell 0.1 percent, and renminbi deposits declined 2.1 percent to 554.3 billion yuan ($88.02 billion)?at the end of the month.

Total renminbi remittance for cross-border trade settlement amounted to 227.3 billion yuan, compared with 187.5 billion yuan in the previous month.

Total loans and advances increased 0.9 percent. Loans for use in Hong Kong climbed 0.3 percent and loans for use outside Hong Kong rose by 2.2 percent.

As Hong Kong-dollar loans contracted at a slower pace than deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged up to 82.5 percent at the end of March from 81.4 percent a month earlier.

Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 increased 0.9 percent in March and rose 7.8 percent year-on-year. Unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 declined by 1.4 percent during the month and grew 7.3 percent from a year earlier.