Ping An shares jump 51 percent

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shares in Ping An Insurance (Group) (601318.SS)(2318.HK), China's second-biggest life insurer, jumped as much as 51 percent as they listed in Shanghai on Thursday after a $5 billion IPO.

The A shares opened 48 percent higher at 50.00 yuan compared with their initial public offer price of 33.80 yuan. The shares quickly rose to 50.97 yuan. The open was in line with market expectations, which had centered on 50 yuan.

After 10 minutes of heavy trade, the shares had pulled back slightly to stand 45 percent higher at 48.91 yuan.

The strong debut partially eased concern about the health of Shanghai's stock market, which plunged 8.8 percent from an all-time high on Tuesday as funds dumped stocks to take profits. The market rebounded 3.9 percent on Wednesday, but was down 3.2 percent in early trade on Thursday.

The opening price gave Ping An's A shares a premium of 41 percent to the HK$35.45 last close of the insurer's Hong Kong-listed H shares.

The A shares of Ping An's bigger rival China Life Insurance Co. (601628.SS)(2628.HK)(LFC.N), which became the first Chinese insurer to list domestically on January 9, command a far bigger premium of 72 percent to the company's H shares.

Ping An, about 17 percent owned by HSBC (HSBA.L)(0005.HK), raised 38.9 billion yuan in China's second-biggest domestic IPO in February, selling 1.15 billion new A shares or 15.66 percent of its expanded share capital.

The offer drew a massive 1.09 trillion yuan in subscriptions from institutional and retail investors, the second-largest amount for a domestic IPO. Industrial Bank (601166.SS) attracted a record 1.16 trillion yuan during its Shanghai IPO in January.

($1 = 7.74 yuan)