PetroChina's Value Tops $1 Trillion, Surpassing Exxon

PetroChina Co. almost tripled on its first day of trading in Shanghai, becoming the world's first company to be valued at $1 trillion, larger than the entire Russian stock market.

PetroChina shares rose to 43.96 yuan from the sale price of 16.7 yuan, giving the state-owned oil producer a greater market value than Exxon Mobil Corp. and General Electric Co. combined.

The rally makes PetroChina shares four times more expensive than those of Exxon, even though China's biggest oil producer has a quarter of the revenue. China's stock market was valued at less than $1.1 trillion before tripling this year and giving the communist nation five of the world's 10 biggest companies.

PetroChina's valuation is ``an indication of China coming of age and also of its stock market bubble,'' said Hugh Young, who oversees $50 billion at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd. in Singapore.

The oil producer's Shanghai listing pushes China's stock market beyond the U.K. as the world's third-largest. PetroChina trades at 55 times earnings, four times Exxon's ratio of 13 times earnings and near the 58 times for Google Inc., the world's most-used Internet search engine.

In Hong Kong, PetroChina fell 8.2 percent to HK$18. Exxon is worth $488 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.
predictpennystock.com