stocks Photo:CFP

Chinese officials and companies are making final preparations for the widely expected launch of the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) on November 15, as the first batch of firms to be listed has been announced and officials reaffirmed the role of the new exchange.  

The BSE plans to conduct a test on Saturday for the technical readiness of all market participants for the bourse's launch, it announced Thursday.

The BSE will be built into a major platform to funnel capital into innovative, growth-driven small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to key takeaways from a seminar held by the country's industry watchdog and securities regulator, just days before the launch of the new bourse.

At the Tuesday seminar, Xu Xiaolan, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, pledged to deepen cooperation with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), strengthen coordination between industrial and financial policies, and support the creation of the BSE as a major platform serving innovation-oriented SMEs and enabling premium smaller businesses to access the financial market, read a statement on Thursday.

The creation of the bourse is an inevitable move to implement a national strategy for innovation-powered development, according to Zhao Zhengping, vice chairman of the CSRC.

With an initial 10 firms set to make their debut on the BSE on November 15, according to their filings simultaneously late on Wednesday, the launch day for the third addition to the A-share market has been confirmed. 

This comes just over two months after the announcement of the new bourse at the annual services trade fair in Beijing in early September.

The 10 firms, now traded on the selection tier of the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), an over-the-counter market known as the New Third Board, concurrently revealed plans for their shares to debut on the new bourse on November 15, read the filings on the NEEQ's website.

This confirmed previous market expectations for the launch day, as a slew of draft rules has been published for the BSE regarding information disclosure, trading, supervision and management, among others, all effective November 15.

The announcement of the initial BSE stocks apparently indicates that the new bourse is being fast-tracked but will yet be well-prepared, factoring in the fundamentals of the first 10 firms that are fairly sound, with their main businesses typifying distinctive expertise and innovation, Wu Jinduo, head of fixed income at the research institute of Great Wall Securities in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Environmental technology firm Henghe Co and intelligent control equipment manufacturer Keda Automation Control are among the initial 10 listings that specialize in areas ranging from smart manufacturing to auto components and from new-energy vehicle solutions to urban planning, cybersecurity and integrated circuits. 

Other than the initial listings, the remaining 71 firms currently traded on the selection tier are expected to transfer their shares to the Beijing bourse.

The launch of the new bourse might draw some funds away from the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets, Wu reckoned. 

The "siphon effect" may perhaps be negligible for the A-share market at large, however, per GF Securities, which cited daily turnover of A shares that now averages about 1 trillion yuan ($156.22 billion) versus merely 390 million yuan on the entire selection tier.