Shenzhen performances boost appetite for further IPOs

Friday was an exciting day for China’s stock markets, thanks to the resumption of initial public offerings down in Shenzhen. Consider the performance of newcomers Guilin Sanjin Pharmaceutical and Zhejiang Wanma Cable, which saw rises of 82% and 125%, respectively, on their first day of trading. Those gains came even though the Shenzhen stock exchange had announced new rules designed to limit first-day stock fluctuations. The China Securities Regulatory Commission is convinced enough about the market’s appetite for IPOs that it has moved forward the date for the Shanghai IPO of construction behemoth China State Construction Engineering. China State expects to raise as much as US$5.93 billion from the offering, which would be the largest – so far – in the world this year. Also in construction-related market news, Beijing building materials firm BBMG Corp is planning a smaller, US$700 million IPO in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) said that a rising stock market had pushed its return on equity investments up to 9.99% in the first half, after a 6.79% drop in 2008. Aviation shares will be ones to watch today as China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines resume trading; China Eastern has announced a deal worth US$1.3 billion to merge with Shanghai Airlines.