HONG KONG -- Shares of China Eastern Airlines Corp. rallied more than 5% Thursday in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. The moves came a day after the carrier said it received conditional approval for a private stock placement of up to 1.35 billion yuan ($198 million) in Shanghai-listed shares. It said it is still awaiting final approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the placement, which a Dow Jones Newswires report said would go to 10 institutional investors at a minimum price of 4.75 yuan apiece. China Eastern's Hong Kong-listed shares were up 4.7% at 2.22 Hong Kong dollars (29 U.S. cents) in late morning trade, but had moved as high as 2.27 Hong Kong dollars. The airline's Shanghai shares were up 5.1% at 5.99 yuan.

Copyright © 2009 MarketWatch, Inc.