SHANGHAI, March 11 Reuters Mainland China stocks jumped on Thursday as betterthanexpected February bank lending data lifted market sentiment and relieved some policy tightening worries, while Hong Kong shares gained following an overnight rally on Wall Street.

Official data showed that new bank lending in China fell less than expected in February from January as the central bank sought to cool credit growth to contain debt risks while maintaining support for ailing small firms.

The improvement of credit structure pointed to the robust financial stability, and we reckon that the Peoples Bank of China PBOC is in no rush to tighten its monetary policy stance for now, said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank in Hong Kong.

At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.78 at 3,417.63 points, while Chinas bluechip CSI300 index was up 2.13 to 5,024.56.

By midday, the financial sector subindex rose 1.9, the consumer staples sector was up 3.78, the real estate index climbed 0.81 and the healthcare subindex gained 3.37.

The smaller Shenzhen index was up 1.78, the startup board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 2.64 and Shanghais techfocused STAR50 index was up 1.64.

Chinese Hshares listed in Hong Kong rose 2.51 to 11,337.54, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 1.6 at 29,371.23.

Analysts said gains in Hong Kong were tracking surges on Wall Street overnight, as the SP 500 rose on Wednesday and the bluechip Dow hit a record high…