34 Chinese firms debut on 'new third board'

BEIJING - China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw 34 new small and medium-sized enterprises debut last week.

The newcomers brought the total number of companies on the board to 11,578.

Turnover on the board stood at 3.6 billion yuan (about $550 million) last week, up 3.98 percent from the previous week.

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.