Trade resumes in 34 Sichuan firms, 32 still halted

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's two main stock exchanges will resume trading on Wednesday in about half the 66 companies in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality suspended after Monday's devastating quake, official media said.

Trade will restart in 32 of 45 shares suspended on the Shanghai stock exchange and in two of 21 shares halted on the Shenzhen exchange, after those firms have provided information regarding the impact of the earthquake.

A 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan Province on Monday, killing more than 13,000, with the death toll expected to continue rising.

On the Shanghai exchange, 10 companies will remain suspended awaiting further information, including Sichuan Hongda (600331.SS), Dongfang Electrical Machinery Co Ltd (1072.HK) (600875.SS), Sichuan Minjiang Hydropower Co Ltd (600131.SS) and China Railway Erju Co (600528.SS).

Another three will remain suspended for other reasons, the official China Securities Journal said.

Two companies listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange will resume trading but another 19, including Sichuan Jinlu Group Co Ltd 000510.SZ, will remain suspended.

Among companies to resume share trade, Sichuan Changhong Electric Appliance Co (600839.SS) said it had temporarily halted production at Mianyang city in Sichuan Province, but its preliminary estimates indicated the earthquake would not have a significant impact on its production and it remained confident of meeting its 2008 management targets.

Chongqing Three Gorges Water Conservance and Electric Power Co Ltd (600116.SS) said it had suffered no damage to facilities as a result of the earthquake and production was normal.

Chongqing Iron and Steel Co (601005.SS) said its production was normal and had not been affected by the earthquake.

(Reporting by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Keiron Henderson)