Bank lending across the euro zone came to a near standstill in September, data from the European Central Bank showed on Wednesday, as weak growth indicators continued to point towards a fresh recession for the 20-nation bloc.

Lending to businesses expanded by just 0.2% in September, the lowest figure since late 2015 and down from 0.7% a month earlier. Lending to households rose by just 0.8% after a 1.0% increase in August, the ECB said.

The M3 measure of growth money supply, seen in the past as a good indicator of future economic expansion, meanwhile contracted by 1.2%, an improvement on the 1.3% drop a month earlier and better than the minus 1.7% reading expected in a Reuters poll. (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi Editing by Francesco Canepa)