Beijing Stock Exchange. Photo: CFP

With the debut of Youji shares on Friday, the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) is welcoming the 100th listed firm seven month after opening, marking another milestone in China's efforts to build a multi-layer capital market that has enriched fundraising channels for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and further released the country's innovation vigor.

The number 100 not only marks a breakthrough from zero to one in terms of BSE' volume, it will also pave the way for its future development that would play a bigger role in China's tech elevation, according to analysts. 

The share price of the high-tech manufacturing company Youji closed 6.29 percent higher at 7.44 yuan ($1.11) on Friday, reflecting a positive market sentiment among investors. As of the closing on Thursday, the market valuation of all companies listed on the BSE has hit 200 billion yuan. 

Since the bourse was launched in November last year with the debut of the first batch of 81 firms, 19 more companies have joined the BSE so far this year. And 76 percent of the 100 listed firms are SMEs, while 80 percent of them are in strategically emerging industries and advanced manufacturing sectors, including industrial material, information technology, medicine and healthcare, carbon reduction and consumption.  

To date, the 100 listed firms all maintain stable operation, and have showed innovation characters and strong resilience in development despite complicated situations at home and abroad, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday. The trade-eligible investors reached over 5 million, compared with around 4 million when the exchange opened last year.

In 2021, 99 percent of the listed firms made profits, with a total profit of 7.625 billion yuan, expanding 22.81 percent year-on-year. Last year, those companies achieved an overall revenue of 70.47 billion yuan, up 31 percent year-on-year.

Those companies also play an important role in driving up tech research and innovation. According to the CCTV report, the total research and development (R&D) spending of the 100 companies was 3.34 billion yuan last year, and their R&D intensity stood at 6.87 percent on average, which is 4.78 times higher than major industrial companies in China.

Industry insiders said the seven-month-old BSE has demonstrated that its different position from Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, which aims to serve the fundraising demands of innovative "little giants" companies while the latter two focus more on blue chip and big companies. It also showed that a market ecosystem accommodating to the development characters of SMEs has been formulated at the initial stage. 

They also expect the speed of listing to accelerate, with the quality of companies listed on the BSE further improving. 

Global Times