Glencore rises 2pc in first day’s trading
GLENCORE saw its share price close up 2.14 per cent in its first day of public trading on the London Stock Exchange yesterday in what the LSE confirmed is London’s largest ever float, with $10bn raised.
The stock closed at 525p, failing to break above its original float price of 530p when conditional trading began last week.
Some questioned why the share price was not above its float price given that the order book was said to be many times oversubscribed last week.
But most analysts were moderately positive on the stock, with many saying that successfully launching a huge float in the current volatile market for commodities was in itself impressive.
“I don’t think it’s been a disappointing week given the softness in the commodities space since Glencore announced its float,” said Numis Securities’ Andy Davidson, metals and mining analyst. “I think the best we could hope for was stability and we seem to have got that so far. It’s still early days.”
RBC Capital Markets’ Tim Huff said: “I think it’s going pretty well – it’s traded in line with the sector.”
With a market cap of $59.2bn at the close of its first day’s trading, Glencore will be the first company to be fast-tracked into the FTSE 100 index in 25 years. It could see its price rise today on the back of demand from index-trackers.