China Railway Group made a strong debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Monday as its shares closed 68.54 percent up over its initial public offering (IPO) price on a day of mixed trading.

Railway shares closed at 8.09 yuan (1.09 U.S. dollars), 3.29 yuan or 68.54 percent higher than the IPO price of 4.8 yuan. It had a price-earnings ratio at 51.43 times.

The IPO raised 22.4 billion yuan on the Chinese mainland.

The railway group will also offer 3.326 billion H-shares in Hong Kong Friday at 5.03 Hong Kong dollars (64 U.S. cents) to 5.78 Hong Kong dollars. It was aiming to raise an additional 19 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Chinese share prices were mixed Monday with heavyweight PetroChina driving down the major index in Shanghai. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 3.17 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 4,868.61.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 15,832.98 points, up 195.33 points, or 1.25 percent.

The combined turnover of the two bourses fell to 97.82 billion yuan from 100.47 billion yuan Friday.

Gains outnumbered losses by 620 to 250 in Shanghai, and by 484 to 174 in Shenzhen.

PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer accounting for approximately 25 percent of all counters for the major Shanghai index, plummeted 3.43 percent to 30.44 yuan.

Sinopec, the nation's biggest oil refiner, dropped 0.57 percent to 21 yuan.

Other heavyweights, those in the financial sector in particular, managed to recover more or less.

China Life, the country's largest life insurer, rose 4.54 percent to 57.32 yuan, while the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China went up 1.13 percent to 8.08 yuan. Bank of China closed up 0.62 percent to 6.49 yuan, and China Construction Bank increased 0.98 percent to 10.3 yuan.

Hushen 300 index, which tracked one-fifth of both A and B shares on Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, closed at 4,772.67 points, up 35.26 points, or 0.74 percent, from the previous trading day.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2007)