BEIJING, November 15 (TMTPOST) — Beijing Stock Exchange began trading on Monday and saw a turnover of 9.57 billion yuan (around US$1.5 billion) for the first batch of 81 companies on its first day of trading.

The stock exchange’s trading started with 81 stocks, 71 of which were from the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, known as the New Third Board, an over-the-counter system for trading the shares of public companies that are not listed on either the Shenzhen or Shanghai stock exchanges.

Source: Visual China

Ten newly approved companies saw a two-fold share price surge on average on the first day of the trading. The ten companies all got off to a fast start, with their shares each surging by 30%, triggering a 10-minute trading halt, and then resuming to rise by 60%, triggering a second halt.

Henan Tongxin Transmission witnessed even higher growth in share price, closing 493.67% higher. Nantong Great Electric and Hebei Raisesun Information Technology’s share price soared by over 200%.

The establishment of the Beijing Stock Exchange was announced only two months ago and is expected to serve as a fresh source of capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China with a lower threshold for listing and high requirements for investors. It operates under the umbrella of the New Third Board and in addition to the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The new exchange plays an important role in creating a multilevel capital market, improving financial support for SMEs, as well as promoting innovation-driven development, and economic transformation and upgrading, Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at the opening ceremony on Monday, according to the official state media Xinhua News Agency. According to Yi, the launch of the Beijing Stock Exchange is "another landmark in China's capital market reform and development."