China's small co stock market starts trading
Sunday, 1 November 2009
HONG KONG, Oct 31 (AP): A Chinese stock exchange for small enterprises, modeled on the US-based Nasdaq market, started trading Friday and all 28 listed companies soared in price.
Huayi Brothers Media Corp, one of China's top movie studios, soared 165 per cent in the first trading hour on the ChiNext exchange in the southern city of Shenzhen. Other companies rose by at least 75 per cent.
The new board is intended to help nurture the growth of smaller Chinese companies in a financial system that has long favored big, state-owned companies. Huayi Brothers and most of the other companies on the new exchange are privately owned, while China's main exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen are dominated by state enterprises.
The government has talked for more than a decade about creating a Nasdaq-style market to promote technology and other new industries, but its launch was repeatedly delayed.
Huayi Brothers Media Corp, one of China's top movie studios, soared 165 per cent in the first trading hour on the ChiNext exchange in the southern city of Shenzhen. Other companies rose by at least 75 per cent.
The new board is intended to help nurture the growth of smaller Chinese companies in a financial system that has long favored big, state-owned companies. Huayi Brothers and most of the other companies on the new exchange are privately owned, while China's main exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen are dominated by state enterprises.
The government has talked for more than a decade about creating a Nasdaq-style market to promote technology and other new industries, but its launch was repeatedly delayed.