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Aggregate financing rose to 3.42 trillion yuan ($525 billion) in January, according to a report from the People’s Bank of China on Tuesday, compared with the median forecast of 2.2 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg survey. New yuan loans jumped to 2.51 trillion yuan, also a record and beating the median estimate of 1.9 trillion yuan.

The strong figures were helped by banks front loading their 2016 lending targets, companies switching foreign currency loans into yuan ones, and strong corporate bond issuance.

"The stronger-than-expected credit growth reduces the probability of monetary easing in February," said Nomura Holdings Inc. chief China economist Zhao Yang in Hong Kong.

The central bank has turned to cash injections this year instead of cutting benchmark interest rates, as additional reductions could further exacerbate capital outflows.

Net injections since mid-January have been the equivalent to about the same as a 1 percentage point cut to banks’ required reserve ratios -- the traditional way to boost liquidity. The difference is that injections are temporary and can be scaled back if policy makers don’t roll over lending facilities, whereas a RRR cut is more permanent.

Koichi Hamada, one of Mr. Abe’s close economic advisers said Japan’s finance ministry should intervene in the currency market to curb volatility in the yen.

Oil prices surged to their highest levels in more than a week as news of a meeting of top officials from the world's biggest oil producers spurred speculation of an eventual deal to tackle a deep supply glut.

U.S. crude CLc1 was up 5.43% at $31.04. the highest since Feb. 8, building on Friday's more than 12 percent surge.

Reference: Bloomberg, Reuters, Wall Street Journal