Shares in Bank of China surged 23 percent on Wednesday in the Shanghai stock market's biggest debut, underscoring huge appetite for new shares among Chinese investors.
State-run Bank of China, which raised 20 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) in the country's largest domestic initial public offering, is the first big company to list domestically since Beijing lifted a year-long ban on stock offers.
"The market has been hungry for new share issuance for a long time. BOC is finally meeting that demand," said Peng Yong, analyst with ABN Amro TEDA Fund Management Co in Beijing, whose company bought part of the Shanghai IPO.
In the past, China's top companies largely shunned its domestic stock markets in favour of deeper, more stable markets in Hong Kong and overseas. Authorities see Bank of China's listing as the first step toward reversing that trend.
A series of China's top firms, such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, are expected to follow suit in coming months, helping to transform the market from a volatile backwater attracting minimal foreign interest into one of Asia's leading bourses.
With a network of more than 600 offices in some 30 overseas territories, Bank of China is the country's most international financial institution and its top foreign exchange lender.
Its shares closed at 3.79 yuan, up 23 percent from its domestic initial public offer price of 3.08 yuan and in line with the expectations of many analysts. The shares rose as high as 4.05 yuan in the opening minutes.
The closing price of Bank of China's A-shares, which are closed to most foreign investors, gave it a market value of 674 billion yuan ($84 billion). That made it Shanghai's largest stock, accounting for roughly 18 percent of the total capitalisation of all firms on the market.