The Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) has launched its new BSE 50 Index, which closed 2.55% higher on its debut. The new index is aimed at attracting investors and improve liquidity. The BSE, the third stock exchange to be opened in China following the ones in Shenzhen and Shanghai, is now one year old. The BSE 50 outperformed its counterparts, the Shanghai Composite Index, the Shenzhen Component Index, the STAR 50 Index and the ChiNext Index on its opening day. “The index launch is a major event for the bourse, and it's a signal that the exchange has a certain amount of customer resources, mature trading structures, and a large number of trading categories,” market watcher Chen Jia told the Global Times. The Beijing bourse will take the index “as the core”, explore and launch various characteristic indexes in line with market development, and establish more index funds, read a statement on its website.
The index has 50 stocks considered to be representative of the market, providing a tool to “monitor the overall performance of the BSE for all sides,” General Manager Sui Qiang said on November 18. Chen said that the index's better-than-expected debut gave the financial market strong confidence and highlighted the unique advantage of the index in the A-share market. The BSE was launched on November 15 last year to serve the innovation and development of smaller firms. The exchange now has 123 listed companies and has raised CNY26.8 billion. Medium and small-sized firms account for 77%, while private enterprises take up 86%. “The Beijing Stock Exchange has operated smoothly and seen improvements in its ability to serve the innovative development of medium and small-sized businesses one year after it began trading,” said the bourse on its first anniversary.
Market observers told the Global Times that the launch of the index also underscored China's determination to support the large number of small, medium-sized and micro-sized private enterprises and specialized and innovative companies under the current complex international situation and global economic woes. Most listed firms, including 49 “little giant” companies – small enterprises specializing in niche markets with cutting-edge technologies and great potential – are in the sectors of high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, software, hardware technologies, and new materials. The combined operating revenue of listed companies on the Beijing bourse totaled CNY73.21 billion from January to September, up 33.25% year-on-year, with net profits reaching CNY6.93 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.43%, the Global Times reports.
Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Data Exchange has started official trading after a one-year trial period. China is trying to apply commercial rules to create a market for data, which is regarded as a new production factor. Companies can now buy and sell data similar to regular commodities. The Shenzhen Data Exchange was conceived last December and facilitated 415 trade deals with a total trading volume of CNY1.1 billion during the trial period. A total of 484 companies have registered on the exchange so far, including 98 data providers, 91 data brokers, and 295 current and prospective data buyers, according to the exchange.
