NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Social networking Web-site operator Gree Inc. saw shares of it initial public offering close 45% higher at their debut Wednesday, reports said. Gree -- an networking site similar to Facebook and MySpace but for a cellular telephone platform -- was initially priced at 3,300 yen ($37) but rose as high as 51% to 5,000 yen in its opening trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market for start-ups, Agence France-Presse reported. It closed at 4,800 yen, with its market capitalization of 107 billion yen shooting it ahead of rival networking site operator Mixi Inc. as the most valuable firm on the Mothers market, Reuters reported. Gree's debut was Japan's second-biggest this year after Seven Bank's public offering in February, the report said. Ichiyoshi Securities IPO analyst Katsumi Udagawa said Gree's success "looks like it may act as a spark for the IPO and small-cap markets toward the year-end," according to Reuters.

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