Saudi Aramco value touches $2 trillion, defying skeptics

On Wednesday (December 11) Saudi Aramco rang the bell on the world's largest IPO.

24 hours later, it was defying skeptics who said the shares were overvalued.

Aramco stock rose sharply on its second day of trading.

For a while at least, that took the company's value above 2 trillion dollars.

That was the level long demanded by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Aramco's IPO is the centerpiece of his bid to wean the Kingdom off dependence on oil.

The $25.6 billion raised will be used to develop other sectors.

CMC Markets analyst Jochen Stanzl:

(SOUNDBITE) (German) CMC MARKETS CHIEF MARKET ANALYST FOR GERMANY AND AUSTRIA, JOCHEN STANZL, SAYING:

"I would say the IPO is very important for Saudi Arabia. They have the world's largest oil field, the Ghawar oil field, but we all know that the future of oil is not endless. Now is a good time for this IPO to make money and to invest into the future."

But there are still plenty who view the shares with caution.

Analysts at Bernstein say Aramco's real value is nearer to 1.4 trillion dollars

That's still a lot of money of course, with U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil worth a mere 300 billion.

But with the Saudi government still owning over 98% of Aramco...

Bernstein says investors should be wary of state meddling in how the firm is run.