BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares continued the upward trend for the third consecutive trading day and gained 0.9 percent Tuesday, driving the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index to a 9-month new high.

    The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.9 percent, or 23.9 points, to close at 2,676.68 Tuesday.

    The Shenzhen Component Index went up 1.07 percent, or 110.32 points, to 10,424.36.

    Gains outnumbered losses by 544 to 278 in Shanghai and 435 to 273 in Shenzhen.

    Combined turnover expanded to 227.97 billion yuan (33.4 billion U.S. dollars) Tuesday from 180.19 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

    The Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2679.4 points, or 1 percent higher from the previous close, trailing the overnight Wall Street rally.

    Petrochemical shares boosted the index up, following a detailed restructuring and stimulus plan for the petrochemical industry targeted at next three years, released Monday by the State Council, or China's Cabinet.

    PetroChina, the country's leading oil producer, rose 1.39 percent to 13.15 yuan per share. Sinopec, Asia's top refiner, edged up 0.96 percent to 10.56 yuan, while Sinopec Shandong Taishan Petroleum Co., Ltd. gained 1.42 percent to 6.44 yuan per share.

    China plans to raise its annual crude oil processing capacity to 405 million tonnes by 2011, up 18.4 percent over its processing volume of last year, and is scheduled to build three- to- four major oil refining plants in eastern and southern China by 2011, according to the plan.

    China Unicom Co., Ltd., one of China's three state-owned phone titans,edged upward by 0.45 percent to 6.72 yuan per share, after its 10.75 billion A-shares, also its last batch of non-tradable shares, became unlocked Tuesday.

    The unlocked shares all belonged to its parent China Unicom Group. The possibility for the group to sell these shares on the market was slim, so the unlocking had not affected the share price much, dealers said.

    Coal shares continued its favorable performance from the previous trading day on expectation that the rising oil price might further push up coal demand.

    Inner Mongolia-based Huolinhe Opencut Coal Industry jumped 5.91percent to 26.7 yuan per share, while Hebei-based Kailuan Clean Coal rose 1.16 percent to 35.85 yuan per share.