Beijing Stock Exchange marks 5th anniversary with market cap of 850 billion yuan

The Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) marked its fifth anniversary on Tuesday, with the number of listed companies rising from 81 at its launch to 339, with their total market capitalization exceeding 850 billion yuan (about 126 billion U.S. dollars).

Along with the expansion in scale, market activity has also improved markedly. The number of companies with market capitalization above 10 billion yuan has increased from four to eight, and average daily turnover has risen from less than one billion yuan at the start to about 20 billion yuan now.

Qualified investors now exceed 11 million, and the number of public fund products investing in the BSE has grown to more than 3,000. The growth has been accompanied by increasingly diversified participation from institutional investors.

"Institutional investors participating in the exchange are quite diversified, including public funds, insurance funds, social security funds, QFII, private equity and securities firms. We have seen significant progress in listing efficiency, liquidity, refinancing speed and methods, and trading regulation," said Liu Jing, chief analyst at Shanghai Shenyin Wanguo Research and Consulting Co., Ltd.

The BSE has expanded not only in scale but also in quality. Today, more than 60 percent of companies trading on the exchange are national-level "little giant" firms -- a term that refers to innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging sectors such as robotics, new energy, high-end manufacturing, aviation and semiconductors. This year alone, 80 percent of newly listed BSE firms are "little giants".

Analysts say the BSE plays a key role in serving sci-tech innovation and strengthening industrial chains.

"The core value of the BSE lies in filling the gap in the 'middle layer' of China's capital market. More importantly, it precisely anchors specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises, providing an appropriate capital platform for early-stage hard-tech companies. It is a key vehicle for the capital market to serve sci-tech innovation and help strengthen and supplement industrial chains," said Cao Senyuan, chief analyst for the BSE at Western Securities.

More funds are flowing into sci-tech innovation. Over the past five years, the BSE has helped small and medium-sized enterprises raise about 80 billion yuan. More than 80 percent of the raised funds have gone to green and low-carbon sectors, the digital economy, high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials and other fields.

Beijing Stock Exchange marks 5th anniversary with market cap of 850 billion yuan

China will advance the high-quality development of its new-type power grids during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) to ensure the safe and stable operation of the country's power system and better meet the growing demand for electricity, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said Wednesday.

The new-type power grid, as defined by the NEA, encompasses both the construction of a backbone grid and the coordinated development of power grids at all levels, with its operation powered by information technology. Its development is a key step in China's efforts to build robust, intelligent and digitalized power grids.

The NEA said that during the 2026-2030 period, China's power demand is expected to grow at an average annual rate of around five percent, the share of new energy will further increase, and the demand for high-quality green power from high-end industries will grow steadily, placing higher requirements on the construction of new-type power grids.

To that end, China will step up the construction of advanced power grids, speed up the approval and construction of major grid projects such as transmission corridors, and enhance the security and stability of the large power grid, according to Wang Hongzhi, head of the NEA.

The country will also accelerate the research and application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence plus, flexible grid forming, intelligent grid management, and long-duration energy storage, develop new quality productive forces, and make the grid smarter and more flexible, Wang said.

Efforts will be made to strengthen diversified support and guarantee, and upgrade new grid services that are friendly and compatible with new business forms such as efficient grid integration and consumption of new energy, high-quality power supply, and computing-power coordination, so as to better meet the needs of industrial development and the people.

The initiative covers six types of networks: water networks, new-type power grids, computing power networks, next-generation communication networks, urban underground pipeline networks and logistics networks.

China to develop new-type power grids during 15th Five-Year Plan