China Railway Group made a strong debut on the Shanghai Stock
Exchange Monday as its shares closed 68.54 percent up over its
initial public offering (IPO) price on a day of mixed trading.
Railway shares closed at 8.09 yuan (1.09 U.S. dollars), 3.29
yuan or 68.54 percent higher than the IPO price of 4.8 yuan. It had
a price-earnings ratio at 51.43 times.
The IPO raised 22.4 billion yuan on the Chinese mainland.
The railway group will also offer 3.326 billion H-shares in Hong
Kong Friday at 5.03 Hong Kong dollars (64 U.S. cents) to 5.78 Hong
Kong dollars. It was aiming to raise an additional 19 billion Hong
Kong dollars.
Chinese share prices were mixed Monday with heavyweight
PetroChina driving down the major index in Shanghai. The benchmark
Shanghai Composite Index slipped 3.17 points, or 0.07 percent, to
close at 4,868.61.
The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock
Exchange closed at 15,832.98 points, up 195.33 points, or 1.25
percent.
The combined turnover of the two bourses fell to 97.82 billion
yuan from 100.47 billion yuan Friday.
Gains outnumbered losses by 620 to 250 in Shanghai, and by 484
to 174 in Shenzhen.
PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer accounting for
approximately 25 percent of all counters for the major Shanghai
index, plummeted 3.43 percent to 30.44 yuan.
Sinopec, the nation's biggest oil refiner, dropped 0.57 percent
to 21 yuan.
Other heavyweights, those in the financial sector in particular,
managed to recover more or less.
China Life, the country's largest life insurer, rose 4.54
percent to 57.32 yuan, while the Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China went up 1.13 percent to 8.08 yuan. Bank of China closed up
0.62 percent to 6.49 yuan, and China Construction Bank increased
0.98 percent to 10.3 yuan.
Hushen 300 index, which tracked one-fifth of both A and B shares
on Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, closed at 4,772.67 points, up
35.26 points, or 0.74 percent, from the previous trading day.
(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2007)
