zto express pile packages scatteredEmployees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing.Jason Lee/Reuters
Shares of Chinese package delivery company ZTO Express opened at $18.40 per American Depository Share, below the initial public offering price of $19.50. 
The company raised $1.4 billion in the biggest US IPO of the year on Wednesday as early backers cashed in on China's booming online-shopping industry.
On Thursday, the shares were indicated to open at $20-$22 a share. ZTO priced 72.1 million shares at $19.50 a share, above its previously indicated range of $16.50 to $18.50 a share.
The stock market debut, the biggest by a Chinese company since the $25 billion IPO of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in 2014, gave the Shanghai-based company a market value of more than $12 billion.
The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trades with the ticker symbol ZTO.
(Reuters reporting by Lauren Hirsch; Editing by Bill Rigby)