Shanghai Stock Exchange launches new STAR Market index

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on Tuesday launched the SSE STAR 200 Index to track the performance of companies listed on the STAR market, China's Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board.

The SSE STAR 200 Index selects 200 STAR market securities with small-scale market capitalization and good liquidity as index samples. Three other indexes -- the SSE STAR Earnings Quality Strategy Index, the SSE STAR Brand Name Drug Index and the SSE STAR Value 50 Strategy Custom Index -- are scheduled to be unveiled on Friday.

The Earnings Quality Strategy Index measures the performance of securities of listed companies with high earnings quality, the Brand Name Drug Index measures the performance of representative companies in the brand name drug industry, and the Value 50 Strategy Custom Index selects 50 securities with lower operating risks and valuation to measure the performance listed companies with value characteristics, according to the SSE.

Following the release of these four indexes, the STAR market will have 24 indexes tracking domestic and foreign financial products worth a combined total of nearly 160 billion yuan (about 22.4 billion U.S. dollars).

The STAR 50 Index, the STAR 100 Index and the STAR 200 Index will jointly form the market's scale-based index series, reflecting the overall performance of securities from listed companies with varying scales of market capitalization, said the SSE.

"The variety of sci-tech innovation board indexes has been constantly enriched, which can more accurately track the performance of more STAR stocks, especially stocks related to specific market segments considered as the 'new quality productive forces'. At the same time, it provides a feasible way to accommodate the diversified demands of various investors. In the long run, the injection of long-term funds will enable the capital market to better serve the high-quality development of the real economy," said Zhang Gang, chief investment adviser at Southwest Securities.

China has been accelerating the construction of index and product systems. As one of the leading exchanges globally, the SSE, in collaboration with the China Securities Index Company, has been actively enriching the index system and encouraging the development of index fund products. Currently, the combined number of SSE and CSI indexes exceeds 7,000, covering multiple asset classes such as stocks, bonds, commodities and funds, with stock indexes accounting for nearly 70 percent. The index samples span more than 20 major countries and regions worldwide, centering around the markets of Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.

Shanghai Stock Exchange launches new STAR Market index

Zhao Leji, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks with Tomio Okamura, speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, in Beijing on Thursday.

Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Czech strategic partnership, Zhao, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China stands ready to work with the Czech side to carry forward traditional friendship, enhance mutual understanding and trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and promote the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations.

Zhao called on both sides to consolidate the political foundation of their ties, sustain the momentum of improvement in bilateral relations, and resume and step up exchanges and interactions at all levels and across all fields.

Both sides should further tap cooperation potential, give full play to the role of mechanisms such as the economic joint committee between China and Czech and the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo, explore ways to strengthen cooperation in new energy, electric vehicles and other fields, and support enterprises of the two countries in expanding investment cooperation, Zhao added.

The NPC is ready to enhance friendly exchanges with the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, carry out mutual learning and exchanges on legislative supervision, economic development, improvement of people's livelihood, formulate, revise and ratify legal documents conducive to bilateral cooperation, and maintain close communication and collaboration within multilateral mechanisms such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Zhao said.

Zhao also said China is willing to work with all countries, including the Czech Republic, to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and promote the establishment of a fair and equitable global governance system for AI.

Okamura said the Czech Republic adheres to the one-China policy, adding that it hopes to strengthen tourism cooperation with China and welcome more Chinese tourists to visit the Czech Republic, expand cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, cultural relic exhibitions, and direct flights, and enhance people-to-people exchanges.

The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic stands ready to strengthen friendly exchanges with China's NPC and enhance the friendship between the two peoples, Okamura added.

China's top legislator holds talks with speaker of Czech Chamber of Deputies