Chinese Tech Companies Get a New Exchange in Shanghai – Bloomberg
What happened: Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong, Mayor of Shanghai, urged the acceleration of the tech stock exchange that President Xi proposed in recent government announcement. State media reported that a first batch of 20 companies could list as early as the first quarter of 2019. Investors hope the registration-based board will allow domestic market to access future Alibaba’s or Baidu’s who went public abroad. The main domestic trading venues for China’s technology companies are the Nasdaq-style ChiNext Composite Index in Shenzhen and the Beijing-based National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ).
Why it’s important: The move can also be seen as a state backed approach to encourage investors to make China technologically independent. The new tech board will likely to attract startups and companies with larger scale seeking better trading turnover. But the Chinese stocks are in a bear market and the domestic financing market is still fighting debt and liquidity pressure. The stock exchange isn’t a panacea.