Chinese shares edge up 0.98%, rising for fifth day

Special
Report: Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese equities rose for a fifth consecutive trading day Wednesday to a nearly nine-month high, led by banks and coal producers.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished the day at 2,592.52 points, up 0.98 percent or 25.18 points. The Shenzhen Component Index advanced 2.02 percent, or 201.26 points, to 10,149.07.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 650 to 194 in Shanghai and 562 to156 in Shenzhen. Combined turnover was 236.2 billion yuan (34.74 billion U.S. dollars), up from 231.16 billion yuan Tuesday.

Coal producers rose across the board by more than 3 percent on average on multiple positive developments, including a rebound in coal prices, lower stockpiles at ports, and signs of recovering demand.

China Shenhua, the nation's biggest coal producer, gained 1.74 percent to 26.96 yuan. Datong Coal Industry surged 5.34 percent to 33.51 yuan.

China Construction Bank, the country's second-largest lender, went up 0.44 percent to 4.52 yuan despite news that the Bank of America might sell some or all of its stake in the Chinese bank.

Shares in other banks also rose on buying by fund managers. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's biggest lender, gained 0.71 percent to 4.24 yuan. China Minsheng Banking Corp. gained 4.17 percent to 6 yuan.

Automakers posted strong gains after leading vehicle producers in China announced robust April sales numbers.

Chongqing Changan Automobile Company soared by the daily limit of 10 percent to 9.11 yuan, after it said its sales surged more than 50 percent in April. SAIC Motor Corp., a leading domestic automaker, climbed 9.63 percent to 14.12 yuan.

Dairy companies also rose after reporting profits in the first quarter against heavy losses last year during the melamine scandal, with sales picking up.

Beijing Sanyuan, which bought the scandal-hit Sanlu Group in an auction in March, surged 9.96 percent to 8.06 yuan after the company said a day earlier it made 32.32 million yuan in profits in the first quarter.

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group gained 5.03 percent to 16.08 yuan. Its first-quarter profits
nearly doubled from a year earlier to 113 million yuan.