China's stock markets closed with mixed results on Wednesday and were saved from an overall decline by the debut of the new bellwether stock, the Bank of China.

The Bank of China, the country's second largest commercial bank, was listed for the first time today on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It contributed 71 points to the major index. The Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index closed 37 points higher.

The composite index, which comprises of yuan-denominated A shares and foreign-currency B shares, closed at 1,718.56, up 37.01 points, or 2.2 percent, after it opened by jumping 74 points in the morning trading session.

If the bank's performance is excluded the index would have registered a decline.

The bank's influence on the the index is so great that a fluctuation of one cent in its share price will cause a one point swing in the index, analysts said.

After opening at 3.99 yuan, the Bank of China closed at 3.79 yuan, or 71 cents higher than the IPO price of 3.08 yuan.

Total turnover for the Shanghai market was 32.5 billion yuan (4 billion US dollars).

The major index of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Component Index, was down by 54.3 points, or 1.25 percent lower, to close at 4,291 points, with a total turnover of 15.9 billion yuan.

There were 783 stocks that declined, while 353 rose on the two markets.

The share prices of other bluechip stocks, including Sinopec, G Baosteel and Yangtze Hydroelectric Co., were down as investors dumped their shares for profit-taking after the two markets registered gains over the past two weeks.

Source: Xinhua