China said Wednesday its economy expanded at a slower but still robust pace in the second quarter as Beijing battles to bring politically sensitive inflation under control.

Gross domestic product in the world's number two economy grew 9.5 percent year-on-year in the April-June period, the National Bureau of Statistics said, as policymakers clamped down on bank lending to tame soaring prices.

The figure was higher than the 9.4 percent growth forecast in a poll of analysts by Dow Jones Newswires, but slower than the 9.7 percent posted in the first three months of the year and 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Analysts said the slowdown highlighted the dilemma facing policymakers after inflation -- a major bugbear for Beijing -- hit a three-year high of 6.4 percent in June.

"Slower growth and higher inflation has put the central government in a monetary policy quandary," IHS Global Insight economist Alistair Thornton said -- but he added that so far the economy was on a "soft-landing trajectory".

The central bank has hiked interest rates five times since October, most recently last Wednesday, and increased the amount of money banks must keep in reserve numerous times, making it difficult for companies to access funding.

In the first half, the economy expanded 9.6 percent year-on-year compared with 11.1 percent in the same period of 2010, the data showed.

The slowdown in growth comes amid concerns China is heading for a hard landing after manufacturing activity almost stalled in June -- which could have a serious impact on countries struggling to recover from the financial crisis.

Credit Suisse economist Tao Dong said in a recent note that "signs are emerging that the economy might be moderating faster than expected".

And on Wednesday NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun told reporters: "The external and internal environment for China's economic development is still rather complicated with numerous instabilities and uncertainties."

However, he added that the economy maintained "good momentum" in the first half and the risks for a "large slowdown are small".

The data showed second-quarter gross domestic product was up 2.2 percent from the first quarter, which Royal Bank of Canada senior strategist Brian Jackson said was evidence that "hard landing concerns are overdone".

"Overall it does highlight that it's been a pretty moderate slowdown since the start of the year, driven by domestic policy measures," Jackson told AFP.

Markets around the region reacted positively to the data -- Shanghai gained 1.2 percent, Hong Kong rose one percent, Seoul climbed 0.89 percent and Sydney added 0.5 percent. Tokyo was 0.47 percent higher.

Other data showed industrial output from China's millions of factories rose 14.3 percent year-on-year in the first half, while fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 25.6 percent.

Retail sales were up 16.8 percent year-on-year in the first six months.

Some analysts have been concerned that Beijing, anxious about inflation's potential to trigger social unrest, may have gone too far in tightening monetary policy as it struggles to bring prices under control.

The June inflation rate of 6.4 percent announced at the weekend was much higher than the government's annual target of four percent and was driven by food prices which soared more than 14 percent.

At the same time, there are growing fears about massive local government debt burdens after ratings agency Moody's warned the proportion of sour loans could be much higher than previously forecast -- which analysts say could derail the economy.

Chinese banks opened the credit valves to fund infrastructure projects as they heeded Beijing's call for nationwide efforts to spur economic growth following the global financial.

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