Factbox: China's STAR market

February 03, 2020

Abstract : China's sci-tech innovation board, also known as the STAR market, has been running smoothly for half a year.

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's sci-tech innovation board, also known as the STAR market, has been running smoothly for half a year.

The board was designed to support companies in the high-tech and strategic emerging sectors, in order to transform the Chinese economy into an innovative one and explore ways to make institutional improvements in the capital market.

So far, the sci-tech innovation board saw 76 companies listed and a market value of over 1.13 trillion yuan (about 164.11 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).

The following facts and figures offer a glimpse of the half-year course of the STAR market.

-- During the first China International Import Expo held in November 2018, the sci-tech innovation board was proposed for the first time and officially established in January 2019.

-- On July 22, 2019, the new Nasdaq-style high-tech board started trading on the SSE, kicking off a trail-blazing leg of the country's innovation drive and capital market reform.

-- A total of 25 companies were listed on the board when it started trading, with an average share price growth of about 140 percent, some even increased by more than 400 percent on that day.

-- In August, Eversec Technology Co., Ltd., was denied initial public offering (IPO) by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the first STAR market IPO denial.

-- In the first three quarters of 2019, firms listed on the board saw their total revenue grow 14 percent year on year to reach 69.12 billion yuan and their total net profit came in at 8.58 billion yuan, surging 40 percent over one year ago, SSE data showed.

-- Under the market-oriented pricing mechanism, Luoyang Jalon Micro-nano New Materials Co., Ltd., registered the first STAR market IPO flop, ending its first day of trading with its share price down 2.15 percent.

-- In December 2019, Suzhou HYC Technology Co., Ltd. announced its major assets reorganization plan, the first such case on the STAR market after regulators unveiled related rules.

-- Shanghai-based UCloud Technology Co., Ltd. went public on the board on Jan. 20, becoming the first company with a dual-class share structure on the A-share market.