Mainland shares gained yesterday, with the Shanghai key index edged up 4.59% profiting from strong performance of banks and airlines.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A shares and B shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, edged up 4.59% or 122.51 points to 2792.40 points after fluctuating between 2801.53 and 2673.55 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange climbed 5.34% or 502.25 points to 9902.98 points, after touching an intraday high of 9926.49 points.

Gainers in the Shanghai market outnumbered losers by 806 to 4 while 43 were unchanged. Only 8 of the 1,581 stocks on the two exchanges lost. Aggregated turnover on the two bourses reached RMB 122.76 billion.

Market heavy weights' good performance led the market higher. PetroChina, the nation's top oil producer, advanced 3.06% to RMB 14.82, while Sinopec<600028><386><SNP>, Asia's largest oil refiner, surged 5.20% to RMB 9.91.

In the banking sector, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the nation's largest lender, gained 3.54% to RMB 4.97. China Merchants Bank (CMC), the nation's fifth-largest bank by market value, increased 6.48% to RMB 22.67. China CITIC Bank Corp, the listed banking unit of the nation's largest investment enterprise CITIC Group, surged 7.27% to RMB 5.61.

Air China Ltd, the nation's largest carrier by market value, hit the daily cap of 10% to RMB 9.52, while China Southern Airlines Co., the largest airline by fleet size in the country, also soared 10% to RMB 7.92. China Eastern Airlines, the country's third-largest carrier, jumped 10% to RMB 7.37.

China Vanke Co Ltd, the country's largest publicly traded residential properties developer, added 5.75% to RMB 9.38.