Investors take a punt on poker-card manufacturer

SHANGHAI - Shanghai Yaoji Playing Card Co Ltd soared 71.71 percent to close at 36.06 yuan ($5.60) a share on its first trading day after listing on Shenzhen's growth enterprise board (ChiNext), China's version of the Nasdaq.

The huge success of its initial public offering (IPO) will help the poker-card maker add capacity to produce 1.3 billion decks of cards annually, or one pack for every Chinese person, said analysts.

Prior to the IPO, Yaoji said it planned to raise 363 million yuan through the issue of 23.5 million A-shares to fund a manufacturing base with an annual capacity of 600 million decks.