Shares in Baidu, the internet search engine billed as the "Chinese Google", almost tripled on their debut on Nasdaq today. They were sold last night at $27 and had risen to $78 by 11:47 New York time, giving the company a market capitalisaton of $2.53bn (€2.1bn).

The shares were priced last night 8% above their expected range. Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray, joint bookrunners, set an initial price range of $19 to $21, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.