Beijing Stock Exchange brings new business areas to improve SMEs market

The Beijing Stock Exchange introduced new business areas to improve a market serving small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to mark one year after President Xi Jinping announced the bourse's establishment.

The exchange issued draft rules for margin trading and securities lending on Friday, introduced its first benchmark index and launched a government bond issuance business.

China's President Xi Jinping said on Sept. 2 last year that the country would set up a stock exchange in its capital as the primary platform serving innovation-oriented SMEs.

The Beijing bourse said in a statement that margin trading and securities lending would enrich investors' trading strategies and improve the pricing function of the market.

The bourse also launched its first broad-based index - the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index - comprising 50 large and liquid companies, to reflect the overall performance of the market.

Meanwhile, China's securities regulator announced the launch of a government bond issuance business on the Beijing exchange.

The new business is an important measure to develop the exchange's bond market and to support the development of the real economy, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

The Beijing Stock Exchange is still relatively small and less developed, compared with China's two major bourses located in the financial centre of Shanghai and the tech hub of Shenzhen.

China's main share indexes have plunged sharply this year as the economy struggles to recover from repeated COVID-19 lockdowns and a slumping property market.