Royal Mail shares rose more than 38% to 456p at the start of conditional dealings on the London Stock Exchange.
The hugely oversubscribed sale was priced at 330p per share at the top of its expected range and valuing the near 500-year-old company at £3.3bn.
After an hour into trading, the price had eased back to 444p. Private investors received 227 shares each.
The shares are listed officially next Tuesday, but City institutions began conditional dealings on Friday.
Some 10 million shares were traded in the first 30 seconds when the market opened.
The price rise is likely to fuel debate over whether the sale of Royal Mail has been undervalued. Vince Cable, business secretary, has insisted that the taxpayer has not been short-changed by the privatisation.
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But the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Billy Hayes, described the sell-off as "a tragedy" and predicted that it would make "not one scintilla of difference" to employees' intention to vote for strike action next Wednesday.
Mr Hayes told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This is a sham, really. The company has been under-valued.
"It's basically David Cameron rewarding his mates in the City. Vince Cable, one of the cleverest men in British politics, has made one of the stupidest decisions he is ever likely to make as a politician."
'Froth and speculation'
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Mr Cable told Today that the bulk of the shares had gone to "long-term stable investors" in the UK.
He said any volatility in the Royal Mail share price over the next week or so was of little consequence. "What matters is where the price eventually settles in three or six months time".
Mr Cable said: "You get an enormous amount of froth and speculation in the aftermath of a big IPO [initial public offering] of this kind.
"The bulk of the shares have gone to long-term institutional investors, stable investors, some overseas investors, but mainly British pension funds and insurance companies who are there for the long term.
"The objective of the exercise, which fits in with what we want for the Royal Mail, is to make sure it has stable, long-term investors."
Voting in the strike ballot will close on 16 October. Under the current rules on industrial action, the earliest possible date for a strike is 23 October.
In the flotation prospectus, Royal Mail warned that labour unrest posed a potential risk for the share price.
Mr Cable said a strike was not in the interests of Royal Mail.
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