18 firms debut on China's "new third board"

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotation (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw 18 new small and medium-sized enterprises in the past week.

The total number of companies on the board came in at 11,632 on Friday, official data showed.

Turnover on the board stood at 3.98 billion yuan (about 603 million U.S. dollars) from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, down 0.76 percent from the previous week.

NEEQ was launched in early 2013 to supplement the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in serving small and medium-sized enterprises.

It is seen as an easy financing channel for small businesses with low costs and simple listing procedures. Enditem