Shares of Daqin Railway, which runs China's biggest coal transport line, rose a modest 12 per cent in their trading debut as investors were lured away to buy companies in which state-owned shares become tradable this month.
Daqin's stock rose to 5.52 yuan in Shanghai yesterday from the initial public offering price of 4.95 yuan. That compared with the 45 per cent gain of Poly Real Estate shares on Monday and more than 20 per cent gain by most other stocks in first-day trading, including Bank of China.
'Investors who have been betting on good growth of new stocks are pulling back money to buy tradable shares in already listed companies,' an investment banker with Citic Securities said.
More than 3.6 billion state-owned shares of 33 companies worth 35.2 billion yuan will be available for public trading in the market this month after a one-year lock-up period after China started share reform.
The shares include major corporates such as Citic Securities, China Yangtze Power and Suning Appliance, which are likely to be popular with investors because of their financial strength and familiar brand names.
The slump in the broad market also affected Daqin's debut. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1 per cent yesterday after a 3 per cent decline to a five-week low on Monday.
