Tokyo-Sony Financial Holdings Inc. raised 348 billion yen ($2.9B) in its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this Thursday.

Shares of the financial unit of Sony Corp. opened 5 percent over pre-market price of 400,000 yen on the TSE. Sony Financial gained 3.8 percent to 415,000 on its first day trading.

The closing price was well below analysts' average predicted closing price of a 25 percent gain, but the value of the issue was the most actively traded in Thursday's session on TSE. Analysts expect the stock will keep increasing for the time being.

Analysts believe that the timing of the Sony unit's IPO was appropriate because the credit market turmoil that has hurt stock markets over the past several months appears to be easing.

Sony Financial's IPO became the nation's biggest IPO this year, having a market capitalization of about 913.5 billion yen ($7.6 B), calculated on its opening share price. Sony Financial controls Sony Life Insurance, Sony Assurance, Sony Bank and other businesses.

Sony, its parent company, reduced its share for the unit from 100 percent to 63.2 percent by selling 725,000 shares of the unit to raise about 300 billion yen ($2.5B).

Electronics Sony Tokyo Stock Exchange