** Shares of Australian coal miners rise and are among the top performers on the benchmark ASX200 index .AXJO

** Most active China coking coal contract rises over 3% to 854 yuan per metric ton

** Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX rises 8.7% to their highest since February 5

** New Hope NHC.AX advances 6.8% poised for its strongest session since mid-March

** Both firms are set for their third consecutive session of gains

** YTD, WHC and NHC are down 1.9% and 17.5% respectively vs the benchmark's gains of 5.1%

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk;))