The IPO of Commodities exchange NYMEX Holdings Inc. (NMX: chart) in November made the best first-day performance of any IPO in the past year, with a 125% gain.

NYMEX priced its IPO of 6.5 million shares, at $59 per share, above its forecast range. The deal was worth $385.5 million.

New York-based NYMEX followed the line of successful IPOs from exchanges in 2006. The NYSE Group Inc. (NYX: chart) launched its shares in March and rose 25% on their first day of trading. IntercontinentalExchange (ICE: chart) and CBOT Holdings Inc. (BOT: chart) both soared at their start.

Tech stocks played an important role in the IPO market during the past year.

The computer products provider Isilon Systems Inc. (ISLN: chart) and the computer networking equipment maker Acme Packet Inc. (APKT: chart) were the third and fourth best first day performers of the year with 77.7% and 67.5% gains, respectively.

Acme Packet raised $109 million with an IPO that priced above a forecast range. The offering of 11.47 million shares was priced at $9.50 per share, above the expected range.

Riverbed Technology Inc. (RVBD: chart) and Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (OMRI: chart) were the top gainers, rising about 230% and 220%, respectively, during the year.

Shares of computer networking company Riverbed Technology rose 48% in their firs day of trading, representing one of the best IPO openings of the year. The 8.8 million share offering raised $85.8 million, after pricing at $9.75 above the forecast.

Omrix Biopharmaceuticals priced its initial public offering of 3.4 million shares of common stock at $10.00 per share, below the forecast for $12 per share.

Medical device and a tech companies were also among the year''s worst performers. Alphatec Holdings Inc. (ATEC: chart) and Vonage Holdings Corp. (VG: chart) both fell 59% since their market debuts.

The finance sector had the most U.S. IPOs with 55 deals, worth about $9 billion.

The investment banks KBW Inc. (KBW: chart), Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc. (TWPG: chart), Cowen Group Inc. (COWN: chart), and Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR: chart) ended the year above their offering prices after several ups and downs.

A number of Asian companies made successful U.S. IPOs during the past year.

Shares of China-based hotel chain Home Inns & Hotel Management Inc. (HMUN: chart) rose 72% on their first day of trading.

Home Inns raised more than $109 million with an offering of 7.9 million American Depositary Shares priced at $13.80 each, well above the forecast range.