32 Chinese firms debut on "new third board"

BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw 32 new small and medium-sized enterprises debut last week.

The newcomers brought the total number of companies on the board to 11,573.

Turnover on the board stood at 3.5 billion yuan (about 540 million U.S. dollars) last week, down 18.2 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.