China stocks rise 1.2 pct, nearly 3 mth closing high

SHANGHAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - China's key stock index rose 1.22 percent in active trade on Tuesday, with metal and brokerage shares firmer as signs of growth in bank lending lifted optimimism for sustained economic growth despite new share offers.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended at 3,114.227 points, its highest close since Aug. 13.

Gaining Shanghai A shares overwhelmed losers by 819 to 76, while turnover picked up to a six-week high of 170 billion yuan ($24.9 billion) from Monday's 154 billion yuan.

The Nasdaq-style ChiNext <0#CHINEXT.SZ> market for start-up stocks, which began trade last Friday with a speculative surge, ended mostly weaker on profit-taking for a second day after two-thirds of its 28 stocks fell by their 10 percent daily limit on Monday.

Analysts said optimism about the outlook for economic recovery and expectations of continued strong earnings growth in the fourth quarter boosted market sentiment.

The official China Securities Journal cited a research report from China Construction Bank forecasting that China's economic growth in the fourth quarter was likely to exceed 10 percent on the year, with full-year GDP growth seen at 8.3 percent.

The newspaper also reported that China's top four state-owned commercial banks extended about 136 billion yuan in new loans in October, up 23 percent from a month earlier. [ID:nSHA151278]

Another major official newspaper, the Shanghai Securities News, said new bank lending in China may have hit 300 billion to 400 billion yuan in October, broadly in line with market expectations. [ID:nPEK349957] ($1 = 6.83 yuan) (Reporting by Claire Zhang and Edmund Klamann)