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

BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw the debut of nine new small and medium-sized enterprises last week.

With the newcomers, the total number of companies on the board reached 11,559, according to new NEEQ data.

From March 26 to 30, turnover on the board stood at 2.06 billion yuan (about 328 million U.S. dollars), up 36.7 percent from the previous week.

The 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.