SHANGHAI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - China's main stock index rose 0.80 percent on Monday, led by banks after comments by a central bank official indicating that China had eased restrictions on bank lending.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended the morning at 1,742.591 points.
The index had ended October with a monthly decline of 25 percent, its biggest one-month fall since July 1994.
Turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 12.2 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), down from Friday morning's 13.5 billion. Gaining stocks outnumbered losers by 459 to 408.
Official media reports over the weekend quoted a central bank spokesman as saying that China was no longer imposing strict limits on bank lending, as it sought to preserve stable and relatively rapid economic growth during the global financial crisis.

($1=6.82 Yuan)

(Reporting by Claire Zhang; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

((junjie.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; (8621) 6104-1775; Reuters

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