Investors have given China's first railway listing a spirited welcome on the Hong Kong stock exchange, lifting its share price by 7.3 per cent.
After a stellar performance by the company's American depositary shares in New York on Monday, Guangshen Railway Co opened in Hong Kong 5.6 per cent above the listing price at $3.075 and peaked at $3.175 in the early afternoon.
The shares maintained most of those gains, closing at $3.125, despite the fall in the China Enterprises Index of other H-share companies.
Guangshen was the most actively traded stock yesterday, with 179.19 million shares worth $555.05 million traded.
About 14.3 per cent of the newly listed shares changed hands yesterday, comprising 12.9 per cent of the market's total transactions.
Samson Chau, director of China sales at Peregrine Brokerage, said: 'The shares went up about 6 per cent at midday in the US on Monday, giving local investors expectations that a premium of about 5 per cent to 6 per cent on the issue price could prevail.' In New York on Monday, the company's shares closed on the first day of trading up 6.6 per cent at US$20.25.