SHANGHAI -- China Shenhua Group, the nation's largest coal producer, made a strong debut on Tuesday on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as its shares jumped 87.35 percent from its initial public offering (IPO) price to close at 69.3 yuan.

The firm opened 83.83 percent higher at 68 yuan per share, 31.01 yuan higher than its IPO price. The price jumped to 70.50 yuan per share in the exchange session and then remained under 70 yuan.

After the debut, Shenhua will use the proceeds to build or upgrade its coal, power and transportation systems and purchase strategic assets, said Chen Biting, president of the company, at Tuesday's press conference.

The Shenhua IPO raised 66.58 billion yuan (8.87 billion U.S. dollars), the biggest ever domestic listing, exceeding the 58.05 billion yuan (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) raised by the CCB last month.

The firm's debut attracted 2.67 trillion yuan in subscriptions for its yuan-denominated A-share sale, exceeding the 2.26 trillion yuan on the IPO of the CCB, the country's second largest commercial bank.

By the end of this June, Shenhua had proven reserves of 5.99 billion metric tons mainly in northern China's Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Shenhua listed on Hong Kong stock exchange in June 2005. So far, its total H share value has jumped five times from 17.5 billion U.S. dollars to 108.7 billion U.S. dollars.

(xinhuanews)