Stone Electronic Technology's shares soared yesterday on expectations Sina.com - of which it owns about 13 per cent - will list on the US Nasdaq Stock Market as soon as this year and enjoy the same success as predecessor and fellow Chinese-language Internet portal operator China.com. Analysts also said the gains were on the back of high demand for an initial public offering (IPO) by Great Wall Technology. Stone's shares finished 22.72 per cent or 35 cents stronger at HK$1.89. Analysts said the general consensus was that a Sina.com flotation would be more successful than China.com's recent listing as it is viewed as having a superior product. They said that talk of a Sina.com listing had been around for some time, but yesterday sentiment for the stock greatly improved on the back of the strong response to Great Wall's IPO. 'People have been talking about Sina.com - of that listing - but there's no substance to that yet. Great Wall Technology gave a huge boost to sentiment on where tech stocks should be valued,' according to one analyst. Great Wall has raised its pricing range considerably and is now expected to go to market at a richer price-earnings ratio of 11.35 times. DBS Securities head of research Frederick Tsang said: 'The major thing for Stone . . . is the Sina.com listing. China.com [listed] and this (Sina) is seen to be better than China.com.' China.com's share price closed on its first day of trade in the US at US$67.10, up sharply from its IPO price of $20. It closed on Tuesday at $40.37. 'I have been told that Sina.com's [Internet site] is three times more popular than China.com's,' one market source said. Mr Tsang said the valuations placed on Stone after a listing could be more substantial than that given to New World Infrastructure, which holds about 18 per cent of China.com. 'It's [Stone's] market cap is much smaller than New World's so the impact would be far greater,' Mr Tsang said. Sina.com officials reached yesterday denied they had any concrete listing plans. The company's vice-president Wang Zhidong told the Post last Thursday: 'We have sufficient cash to support our development plan in the next 18 months. There is no urgent need for us to rush listing plans.'
