First Trillion Dollar Firm - PetroChina Stocks Nearly Triple (GALLERY)

PetroChina is officially the world’s first trillion dollar firm, making China home to half of the world’s top 10 most valuable companies. This came after PetroChina’s shares on the Shanghai stock market nearly tripled this week.

“The energy company’s soaring valuation underlines the frenzy among Chinese investors for new stock despite concerns that a bubble has formed in the country’s closed equity markets,” the Guardian reported.

“In scenes reminiscent of the dotcom boom, heavy demand saw the shares race up from the flotation price of 16.7 yuan (107p) to 43.96 yuan by the close, giving the group a market capitalisation of about $1 trillion (£480bn). At that level it accounts for almost a quarter of the entire Shanghai A-share market.”

Next summer’s Beijing Olympic Games have brought the country to the forefront of international media for the last months. The Chinese economy is booming, but financial advisers continue to warn it may just be a bubble.