Investors seemed appeased for the moment, after a top central bank official indicated that the government had no sudden plans to corral the banking industry's liberal lending policies. The remarks, published on the People's Bank of China Web site late Wednesday, appeared to be aimed at allaying worries that China's economic rebound would slow. 'We need to focus on using market means and utilizing various monetary policy tools, instead of setting lending quotas, to guide a reasonable and sustainable lending growth, satisfying the need of a stable economic recovery,' said Su Ning, deputy governor of the central bank. In a volatile session, the Shanghai composite stock index finished with a gain of 1.7 percent, to 3,321.56, after tumbling 5 percent Wednesday. The selling wave that hit the market followed a report in Caijing, an influential domestic business publication, that two of China's largest banks -- China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China -- would rein in lending. There has been growing concern in Beijing that much of the record $1.1 trillion in new bank loans this year has been funneled into the stock and real estate markets rather than the real economy. The Shanghai stock index was up 89 percent year to date through Tuesday as investors have piled into shares. Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist for Royal Bank of Scotland, estimates that half of this year's increase in credit has been used to buy equities, property and commodities. However, he believes Beijing's leadership will overlook the problem in favor of maintaining growth and thus employment. The bank lending spree had been encouraged by the government as part of its economic-stimulus program. 