Shares in one of the nation's "big four" lenders, Bank of China (BOC), made a strong trading debut in Shanghai Wednesday morning as the new number-one on China's stock markets.

 

BOC's initial public offering (IPO) was valued at a hefty 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) and its equities, totaling 253.8 billion shares, dwarfed the former front-runner Sinopec Corp. which has 86.7 billion shares.

 

Investors were snapping up shares in BOC, the first state bank listed on China's mainland, as there was a strong demand for new shares, analysts said.

 

The bank's opening share price was set at 3.99 yuan--29.5 percent higher than its IPO price of 3.08 yuan. Shortly after trading began the stock's price fell slightly to 3.89 yuan.

 

China only recently resumed IPOs on its domestic bourses after a yearlong moratorium for shareholding reforms to float formerly non-tradable shares held by the State.

 

Policy support in recent months fueled a surge in China's stock market, which has remained bullish for years, and BOC is expected to give yet another shot in the arm to the market.

 

Shanghai's benchmark Composite Index would balloon by 75 points if BOC shares rise to four yuan apiece.

 

The Index has gained 9 percent in the past three weeks in anticipation of the heavyweight's debut. It closed at 1,681.55 Tuesday, down 0.93 percent as investors sold to lock in profits, especially in banking shares.

 

China Galaxy, CITIC and Guotai Junan securities companies were underwriters of the BOC listing deal.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2006)