Investors study the stock trend Tuesday. The Component Stock Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 3,487.12 Tuesday, up 26.92 points over the previous close. The A Share Index closed at 3,744.38, up 30.71 points.

More than 1,000 private Chinese start-up firms are lining up to list shares on an eventual Nasdaq-style second board in Shenzhen, Mayor Li Hongzhong said last Wednesday.

Li was speaking on the sidelines of a news conference in Beijing, days before the Central Government announced the approval of the launch of the mid-cap board on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for small and medium-sized enterprises.

"More than 1,000 firms across China have applied for listing on the second board, most of which are high-tech companies,” he said.

The latest regulations would not allow foreign firms to list on the proposed exchange, a once-popular idea that had lost steam in recent years, Li said.

Market reforms in China have slowed to a crawl in the past two years as regulators focus on enhancing supervision and admitting foreigners into once-closed markets.

Chinese firms, including many high-flying technology companies, had planned to raise some US$27 billion from overseas offerings this year, partly because of stagnant domestic markets and the absence of a Nasdaq-style market.

(Shenzhen Daily May 1, 2004)