Aramco’s stock will have plenty of support when trading begins

When shares of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company begin trading Wednesday after the world’s largest initial public offering, the stars will be aligned to ensure that the stock price holds up.

Aramco sold $25.6 billion of shares at 32 riyals each, the top of the range at which they were marketed, and the company had orders for $119 billion of stock. About 4.9 million individual investors, almost 15 per cent of the kingdom’s population, applied for the shares. Saudi Arabia sold only 1.5 per cent of the company’s capital in the IPO.