(Yicai Global) Nov. 19 -- Shares in STO Express and Yunda Holding surged by the exchange-imposed limit today and were closely followed by other Chinese couriers after the postal bureau said express deliveries over the ‘Double 11’ online shopping bonanza were up 18 percent from the same period last year.

STO Express’ share price [SHE:002468] and that of Yunda [SHE:002120] both jumped 10 percent to finish the day at CNY8.56 (USD1.30) and CNY20.88 (USD3.30) respectively. YTO Express Group's stock [SHA:600233] popped 9.04 percent to end the day at CNY17.12 and SF Holding [SHE:002352] gained 4.18 percent to CNY68.07.

Post offices and private couriers collected 6.8 billion packages between Nov. 1 and Nov. 16, a gain of 18 percent from a year ago, according to data released by the State Post Bureau yesterday.

There were two peaks this year, and not one as in previous years, as e-commerce platforms added a new round of promotions on Nov. 1 as well as Nov. 11, the bureau said. Some 569 million parcels were collected on Nov. 1 and 696 million on Nov. 11. This is much more than the 675 million collected on Nov. 11 last year, but growth slowed to 3 percent year on year, much less than last year’s 26 percent.

Most couriers performed well over this year’s Double 11 shopping festival and there were no pile ups in warehouses, said Wang Pengbo, a senior financial industry analyst. This is because they have been boosting investment in capacity and equipment.

Earlier this week Shenzhen-based SF Holding closed a CNY20 billion (USD3.1 billion) private placement, the proceeds from which will be used to upgrade equipment and construct new logistics centers.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor