AgBank's Shanghai IPO underwhelms

Agricultural Bank of China’s (AgBank; 601288.SH, 1288.HK) IPO posted a mere 0.8% gain on its issue price during its debut on the Shanghai stock market on Thursday,the Wall Street Journal reported. The gain was the least among China’s big four bank IPO launches, and much less than the 10% rise bank officials had been aiming for. Macroeconomic indicators suggesting a broader cool-down in China’s domestic economy were widely blamed. Trading on the Hong Kong market will begin Friday; the bank still hopes to raise US$22.1 billion from the total IPO.