Astro, the largest pay-tv operator in Malaysia, has made its trading debut at the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange today after a successful Initial public offering.

The company raised about $1.5 billion through the IPO, making the sixth biggest share listing this year. The company attracted a lot of interest from foreign investors for the shares during the IPO and its price was fixed at the upper end of the indicative range. Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd started trading with a small gain in the morning trade.

According to dealers in the stock market, the company had purchased expensive foreign content to boost sales and its shares are prices at a higher level than large capitalization consumer stocks. The shares opened 1 per cent higher than its IPO price of 3 ringgit, at 3.03 ringgit on the Malaysian stock exchange.

The company's shares rose 3 per cent to 3.09 ringgit compared to 0.2% gain for the benchmark index. The shares were the most heavily trade stock by a large margin at the stock exchange. At the current prices, the company is valued at 14.6 billion ringgit or about $4.81 billion.