China mining firm falls on Hong Kong trading debut

China's Chinalco Mining Corporation fell more than 11 percent on its Hong Kong trading debut Thursday after raising $397 million in the city's first major initial public offering of the year. Chinalco -- a unit of Aluminum Corporation of China, the mainland's largest aluminium producer by output -- opened at HK$1.55 ($0.20), from an offering price of HK$1.75. It later rose but remained below its listing price. The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 0.10 percent lower. The group focuses on non-ferrous and non-aluminium mineral resources overseas and is currently concentrating on copper mining. Analysts said the lacklustre debut was partly prompted by Washington's announcement on Wednesday that the US economy shrank in the fourth quarter of 2013, indicating that the global recovery remains fragile. "The price of copper is closely related to the global economy, so this reflects that investors are cautious on the price of copper going forward," investment bank Core Pacific-Yamaichi analyst Kenny Cheung told AFP. Chinalco Mining controls the Toromocho Project in central Peru, one of the largest pre-production copper projects in the world. The company has secured five so-called cornerstone investors, including Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which had promised to invest a total of $240 million in its shares ahead of its trading debut. Hong Kong was the world's top IPO market from 2009 to 2011 but money raised from new listings fell last year with uncertainty in the global economic outlook.