(Yicai Global) May 31 -- Shares in Contemporary Amperex Technology today surged as much as 6 percent to hit an all-time high, pushing the country’s biggest electric car battery maker’s market capitalization to over CNY1 trillion (USD157 billion), the first time for a company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s Nasdaq-style ChiNext board to hit this milestone.

CATL's share price [SHE:300750] closed up 5.98 percent at CNY434.10 (USD68), giving it a market valuation of CNY1.01 trillion. Earlier in the day it had reached a record CNY435.57.

Only seven other companies listed on the mainland have achieved this distinction. These are distillers Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye Yibin as well as financial services firms Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, Ping An Insurance, Agricultural Bank of China and China Life Insurance.

In the conventional auto industry, the blue-chip stocks are usually auto parts manufacturers, an investment fund manager told Yicai Global. The same thing is happening in the new energy vehicle sector, in that leading parts suppliers can expect to enjoy a premium on their valuation, he added.

CATL's global market share surged to 31.46 percent in the first quarter, said Sun Keyao, an analyst at Shanghai Securities, citing data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturer and South Korean market tracker SNE Research. In China, the Ningde, southeastern Fujian province-based company is the dominant battery maker with 52.6 percent market share.

Last year, CATL’s overseas sales nearly quadrupled to CNY7.9 billion (USD1.2 billion), boosted by a big jump in electric vehicle sales abroad, especially in European markets. The gross profit margin of its overseas business is nearly 6 percentage points above that of its domestic sales at 32.69 percent.

The lockup period for 952 million shares, equivalent to 40.88 percent of its total share capital, will expire on June 10, the firm said on May 25.

Editors: Xu Wei, Kim Taylor