Demand for shares in Inditex, the Spanish retailer, on its first day of trading was so strong that within six hours the volume of stock changing hands represented more than 40% of the company's €2.4bn ($2.1bn) initial public offering.

Most of the momentum came from foreign buyers and pushed the stock as high as €18.6 on Wednesday, up 27% from the issue price. Much of the international demand came from index tracking funds which had not got full allocation at the IPO, the international tranche of which was an astonishing 53 times covered.