Money Supply Up $500 Million

The nation’s basic money supply rose $500 million in late January, the Federal Reserve Board reported Thursday.

The increase was slightly lower than many market watchers had expected, but had a negligible effect on the credit markets, analysts said.

The Fed said the narrow measure of money known as M1 rose to a seasonally adjusted $732.4 billion in the week ended Jan. 26, from a revised $731.9 billion the week before. The previous week’s figure had originally been reported at $732.2 billion, the Fed said.

M1 includes cash in circulation, deposits in checking accounts and non-bank travelers checks.

For the latest 13 weeks, M1 averaged $725.2 billion, an 18.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate of gain from the previous 13 weeks.