July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. companies borrowed 4% less to finance equipment investments in June than a year ago, industry body Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Tuesday.
New loans, leases and lines of credit signed up by companies in June were down 2% from $10.20 billion a month ago.
ELFA, which reports economic activity for the more than $1-trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals for U.S. companies came in at 75%, unchanged from May.
"A pullback in origination activity at banks caused overall new business volume to dip in June after double-digit growth in the previous two months," ELFA President and CEO Leigh Lytle said.
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA's non-profit affiliate, said its confidence index for July stood at 50.7, up from 50.2 in June. A reading above 50 indicates a positive business outlook.
ELFA's leasing and finance index is based on a 25-member survey, including Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab and financing units of Caterpillar (CAT.N), opens new tab, Dell Technologies (DELL.N), opens new tab, Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE), opens new tab, Canon Inc (7751.T), opens new tab and Volvo AB (VOLVb.ST), opens new tab.
Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas