Aug 12 (Reuters) - China stocks fell on Thursday as weaker-than-expected lending data triggered liquidity concerns and weighed on sentiment. **The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.8%, to 4,973.35, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,524.74 points. ** China’s new bank loans fell to 1.08 trillion yuan ($166.5 billion) in July, the lowest in nine months. ** Growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, slowed to 10.7% in July - the weakest reading since February 2020 - from a year earlier and from 11% in June. ** “We expect the slowdown and resulting headwind to the economy to continue in the coming months, further RRR and policy rate cuts notwithstanding,” Capital Economics said in a note. ** Consumer staples led the decline, with the sub-index finishing down 1.8%. **Insurance sub-index declined 1.5%, as China’s banking and insurance regulator said yesterday it would step up its scrutiny of online insurance companies. **Healthcare shares tumbled, the sub-index slipped 1.5%, as the plunge of vaccine makers in U.S. market yesterday curbed risk appetite, after EU said it was looking into new possible side-effects of mRNA COVID-19 shots. ** The steel sub-index gained 2.5%. ** The semiconductors sub-index rose 0.9%. The index has gained around 35% so far this year. The tech-heavy STAR market rose 0.5% on the day. ** “We expect STAR/ChiNext to continue to outperform in the near term as they are skewed to new energy, semi and computers with improving fundamentals,” wrote Meng Lei, A-share Strategist at UBS Securities. “However, we do not think liquidity will ease further in the near term unless there is material downside risk to the economy.” (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom)