BEIJING, June 26 -- Guotai Junan Securities, China's third largest stock brokerage firm by assets, started trading on the Shanghai stock exchange Friday.

At the opening, the stocks rose 44 percent, the maximum allowed on a new stock's first trading day, to 28.38 yuan (4.64 U.S. dollars).

The company's shares opened for subscription last Thursday at a price of 19.71 yuan per share to raise more than 30 billion yuan, the largest domestic initial public offering in five years.

Guotai Junan was established in 1999 after the merger of former Guotai Securities and Junan Securities, which were both founded in 1992.