FTSE rallies, boosted by EU data and hope for China stimulus

* FTSE index up 1.2 percent

* Euro zone GDP beats expectations

* Financial sector leads the gainers

* Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) falls on trading statement (Updates with closing prices)

By Kit Rees

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The UK's top share index rallied on Tuesday, extending its gains from the previous session with a boost from better-than-expected euro zone Q2 GDP data and hope for further market stimulus on Chinese markets.

The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said gross domestic product in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period, a 1.5 percent year-on-year rise.

This was a revision of the previously reported 0.3 percent quarterly rise and 1.2 percent year-on-year gain.

Data for German exports and imports hit record highs in value terms in July, climbing 2.4 and 2.2 percent respectively, beating a Reuters poll.

The FTSE 100 was up 1.2 percent at 6,146.10 points at the close, lagging blue-chip German stocks.

Although disappointing Chinese import data for August raised concerns about the growth outlook for the world's second-largest economy, some saw it as a sign that China's authorities would do more to support the economy.

"(There is some) hope that you've got a lot more stimulus on the way from China," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG (LSE: IGG.L - news) .

Financial companies with exposure to emerging markets were among top gainers, with Aberdeen Asset Management (Other OTC: ABDNF - news) and British bank Standard Chartered (HKSE: 2888.HK - news) all trading up around 3 percent.

The FTSE 350 banking sector index, was up 1.71 percent, posting its biggest daily gain since late August.

Whitbread was the biggest faller, dropping 1.6 percent after posting slowing Q2 sales growth. The company, which owns Premier Inn hotels and Costa Coffee, said it expected to cut spending and increase some prices to counter the cost of the higher national living wage.

FTSE mid-caps were led by insurer Amlin (LSE: AML.L - news) 's, whose stock surged by 33 percent to an all-time high after Japan's MS&AD agreed to buy the UK rival.

Despite figures showing British retail spending stagnated last month, stocks in online retailer AO World (Other OTC: AOWDF - news) rose 10.1 percent after the company announced the appointment of Mark Higgins as chief financial officer and executive director of the company with effect from Aug. 1. (Reporting by Kit Rees; Editing by Dominic Evans)