(Bloomberg) -- Qutoutiao Inc. jumped by 128 percent in its first day of trading, the best debut on U.S. exchanges this year and a signal that investors may continue to embrace the flood of cross-border listings by Chinese technology firms.

The surge surpasses U.S. cybersecurity firm Zscaler Inc. to become the biggest first-day rise in 2018, excluding IPOs that raised less than $5 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Trading in the Shanghai-based entertainment platform was halted five times Friday throughout the session due to the sharp price movement, closing at $15.97. Qutoutiao announced this morning that its IPO had priced at just $7.00 -- the bottom of its offering range.

Zscaler rose 106 percent in its March 16 debut and is now trading 167 percent above its offering price. Alongside electric car-maker NIO Inc., which also climbed after listing in the U.S. this week, Qutoutiao may motivate more Chinese technology firms to pursue IPOs.

(Updates trading throughout story.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Drew Singer in New York at dsinger28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Scott Schnipper

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