国际英语新闻：GM edges 3.6 percent higher on debut in Wall Street

CHICAGO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- General Motors Co.'s stock Thursday hiked 3.6 percent higher on its debut in Wall Street to settle at 34.19 dollars, sweeping concerns that the shares had been priced too high.

The stock opened at 35 dollars on the New York Stock Exchange, six percent higher than from its initial public offering price of 33 dollars, and touched the highest 35.99 dollars.

In a speech this afternoon, Obama also touted GM's first day of trading as a public company. GM offered 478 million common shares in IPO, which will go to GM's current owners, including the U.S. government and the United Auto Workers union.

Obama administration officials said that U.S. Treasury sold 358 million GM shares in the IPO, which amounted to 11.8 billion dollars at 33 dollars per share.

As a result, the Treasury reduced its stake to 37 percent and could go as low as 26 percent if the overallotment and warrants are exercised. It expects to further cut its ownership in the future.

Underpinned by GM's jump, the S&P 500 rose 18, or 1.5 percent, to 1,197 and the Nasdaq gained 38, or 1.6 percent, to 2,514.