Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares gained 2.73 percent on Wednesday, the second trading day after the earthquake that hit southwestern Sichuan Province on Monday afternoon and resulted in 66 listing companies stop trading on Tuesday.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index concluded the daily trading at 3,657.43 points on Wednesday, up 97.19 points, or 2.73 percent, from the previous close, the biggest rise during one single day in May.

    The Shenzhen Component Index for the smaller stock exchange in Shenzhen gained 458.11 points, or 3.50 percent, to close at 13,532.34 points.

    Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank slightly from Tuesday's 187.65 billion yuan (26.8 billion U.S. dollars) to 186.07 billion yuan on Wednesday.

    Shares fell 1.84 percent on Tuesday amid investors' uncertainty over the impact of the quake.

    The 7.8-magnitude quake resulted in the halting of trade in 45 Shanghai-listed companies and 21 Shenzhen-listed companies that are based in Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. On Wednesday, trading was resumed in 32 Shanghai-listed companies and 2 Shenzhen-listed companies.

    The remaining companies will restart trading when they finish evaluating the damage.

    All the top 10 heavyweights managed to rise as investors' confidence was buoyed by the government's prompt and effective disaster relief moves, dealers said.

    Qiu Yanying, an analyst with domestic TX Investment Consulting Co., said the jolt that the quake brought to the stock market was temporary and limited.

    PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, edged up 1.50 percent to 17.65 yuan, while Sinopec, the largest oil refiner, rose 2.71 percent to 12.13 yuan. China Shenhua, the largest coal producer, up 3.69 percent to 50.00 yuan.

    Financial shares gained across the board and boosted the index up after a weak performance for consecutive previous trading days. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest lender, gained 3.62 percent to 6.29 yuan. China Merchants Bank jumped 4.90 percent to 32.55 yuan.

    Cement shares also rose across the board, partly boosted by the disaster relief construction demands. Fujian Cement, a major domestic cement maker, rose by 10.06 to 9.19 yuan, while Huaxin Cement jumped 10.02 percent to 28.12 yuan.

    Gainers outnumbered losing shares by 703 to 136 in Shanghai and by 542 to 109 in Shenzhen.