STAR 50 index to makes its debut in July

China will officially launch the index for the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market on July 22, the first anniversary of the first batch of firms starting trade on the Nasdaq-like board, the Shanghai Stock Exchange said on Friday.

The STAR 50 index consists of 50 STAR-listed firms, with 1,000 points originally based on their prices on December 31 last year. The index will be released after trading on July 22 and offers real-time change in the following trading day, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. 

The 50 firms cover next-generation information technology, biomedicine and advanced equipment industries. 

So far, 111 firms have listed on the STAR Market, raising a total of 129.3 billion yuan (US$18.5 billion) through their IPOs. They had a combined market value of 1.77 trillion yuan as of Wednesday.

The STAR 50 firms include Kingsoft Office, AMEC and Montage, the three firms each with a market value of over 100 billion yuan.

The index will also include new red chip firms, the regulator said.

Meanwhile, HK-listed SMIC has been approved to list on the STAR Market as its secondary listing, the regulator said. 

SMIC, the biggest chipmaker on the mainland, plans to raise about 20 billion yuan through its STAR Market IPO.

Currently, over 340 firms have applied to list on the STAR Market. 

Meanwhile, regulators are to launch new policies to attract long-term and strategic investors to the STAR Market, making the board stable and mature, speakers told the 12th Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai.

China will support the construction of Shanghai's position as a global financial center, along with related reforms and innovative measures, Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told the forum.