| Copyright: | Copyright 2007 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. | | Source: | Comtex Finance | | Wordcount: | 335 |
BEIJING, Mar 1, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Ping An Insurance, China's second-largest life insurer, saw its shares close at 47.92 yuan (5.99 U.S. dollars) per share on Thursday morning on its debut on the Shanghai stock exchange, down 4.16 percent from its opening price.
The closing price was up 41.7 percent from the initial public offering (IPO) price of 33.8 yuan per share.
Ping An opened at 50 yuan (6.25 U.S. dollars) per share on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday, nearly 50 percent higher than
the IPO price.
"The listing marks a significant milestone in Ping An's history," said Ma Mingzhe, Chief Executive Officer of the company.
The listing came after Chinese shares bounced back from their heaviest losses in ten years on Feb. 28, as the major index gained
3.94 percent to close at 2,881.07 points on Wednesday. It opened at 2,877.20 points on Thursday morning.
With the highest ever opening price among financial stocks on China's two bourses, Ping An shares are expected to give a strong boost to the mainland's stock market, analyst said.
Ping An's IPO has attracted 1.1 trillion yuan, (about 145 billion U.S. dollars), second only to the Industrial Bank.
Analysts had estimated the price would float between 48 to 56 yuan on the first trading day to close at 52 yuan.
Ping An earmarked 345 million shares, or 30 percent of total shares on offer, to strategic investors. It initially set aside 287.5 million shares for fund managers and 517.5 million shares for individual investors.
The company's premium income for 2006 amounted to 85.85 billion
yuan, up 20 percent from the previous year.
In the first nine months of 2006, Ping An posted a net profit of 3.7 billion yuan, up from full 2005 earnings of 3.3 billion yuan.
At the end of June last year, the company held a 16.5 percent share of China's life insurance market.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2830.97 points on Thursday morning, 1.74 percent down from the previous close.
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