SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Trading on the Beijing Stock Exchange kicked off on Monday, with shares of the 10 companies that recently conducted initial public offerings (IPOs) on the new Chinese bourse surging as much as six-fold and triggering circuit breakers.

A total of 81 stocks started trading https://www.reuters.com/article/china-exchange-idUSL1N2S30M3 to mark the official launch of the exchange – which has been set up to serve small and medium-sized enterprises https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-stocks-exchange-idUSKBN2HK0E7 (SMEs), underpinning President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” policy aimed at reducing wealth gaps in the country.

“It’s a pretty good performance for the first day. I don’t see a lot of froth,” said Yang Hongxun, an analyst at investment consultancy Shenguang. “With President Xi endorsing the exchange, I see little chance of this market failing.”

Performance was mixed for the other 71 stocks, which were transferred to the new bourse from the ‘select tier’ of Beijing’s over-the-counter New Third Board.

The launch of the Beijing exchange is a landmark in China’s capital market reforms, said Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

“It’s significant as it will enhance multi-layered capital market, improve financing system for SMEs and drive innovation and upgrade China’s economy,” Yi told a ceremony on Monday.

The Beijing exchange complements existing bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen that host companies with bigger market capitalisations.

More than 4 million investors have opened accounts to trade on the Beijing Stock Exchange, which adopts a registration-based IPO mechanism – a system also embraced by Shenzhen’s ChiNext and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market.

Companies listed on the Beijing exchange, if qualified, can directly migrate to ChiNext, or STAR.

CIRCUIT BREAKER

At the end of trading on Monday, all the 10 newly-listed stocks registered hefty gains. But 59 of the 71 stocks that were transferred from the ‘select tier’ fell.

“Capital is chasing the new stocks, while existing shareholders on the ‘select tier’ are taking profit,” said Zhou Yunnan, a veteran investor in the New Third Board.

The first batch of companies listed on the bourse are mainly from sectors such as software, pharmaceutical and high-end manufacturing.

Turnover on the Beijing exchange was 9.57 billion yuan ($ 1.5 billion) on the first trading day, just 1% of the combined daily turnover in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Henan Tongxin Transmission Co, which makes automobile transmission devises, led with a 494% gain, data from the Beijing Stock Exchange showed.

Nantong Great Electric Co Ltd, HeBei Raisesun Information Technology Co, and Anhui Jingsai Technology Co more than tripled.

The spikes triggered circuit breakers or temporary halts in the trading of the 10 stocks.

Investors with assets worth at least 500,000 yuan ($78,347) in their stock account can apply to trade in the Beijing Stock Exchange – a threshold on par with Shanghai’s STAR Market.

More cash is expected to flow in.

Eight mutual funds targeting the Beijing exchange have completed registration, according to CSRC.

($1 = 6.3819 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

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