China Real Estate Shares Jump 20 Pct In IPO

JORDAN ROBERTSON

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a surprise for the IPO market, shares of China Real Estate Information Corp. leaped as much as 20 percent Friday in their first day of trading.

The pop in the database and consulting company's stock suggests that investors are keen to get a piece of the booming Chinese real estate market, and that a flurry of other initial public offerings of stock on deck for the next two weeks might also find a warm greeting on Wall Street.

The biggest planned offerings include energy company AEI, Dole Food Co. and medical device maker AGA Medical Holdings.

China Real Estate's stock apparently benefited from the broader market's run-up this week and what wound up being smart pricing of its shares.

Investors are digesting a mixed bag of earnings reports for the July-September quarter that have boosted the overall market, despite lingering signs of distress from the recession. The optimism was reflected in the Dow Jones industrial average's ascent above 10,000 earlier this week, the first time in a year it reached that mark.