Shares in China Coal Energy, the country's second largest coal producer, closed 31.91 percent higher on its debut on Shanghai Stock Exchange Friday.

Its stocks opened at 24 yuan (3.3 U.S. dollars), up 42.6 percent from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 16.83 yuan. The opening price, however, was lower than market expectations of 25 to 32 yuan.

Its share prices retreated to close at 22.20 yuan as the key Shanghai Composite fell 1.43 percent to 4,320.77 Friday, the lowest closing in six months.

The coal giant has issued in Shanghai 1.525 billion A shares, representing 11.51 percent of its outstanding capital. The share sale was 121 times oversubscribed as it received 3.12 trillion yuan (434 billion U.S. dollars) in orders.

The company has raised 25.67 billion yuan (3.6 billion U.S. dollars) through the IPO, the eighth largest A share listing in history.

It said it would use the proceeds for the construction of major coal projects in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province, and to supplement operating capital.

Analysts forecast the company's earnings per share would stand at 0.43 yuan for last year, 0.51 yuan this year, and 0.65 yuan in 2009.

China Coal Energy was exclusively initiated by the China National Coal Group Corp. in August 2006 and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2006. Its assets were valued at 55.29 billion yuan with net assets of 31.88 billion yuan by the end of June. Operating turnover reached 16.93 billion yuan and net profits hit 2.44 billion yuan in the first half of 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2008)