By Gabby Chen

China's Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board - Star Market of Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), officially entered a "500 Company Era" with the listing of two additional companies on December 28, reported Economic Information Daily on the same day.

So far, SSE's Star Market raised nearly RMB760 billion ($108.99 billion) via initial public offerings (IPOs) with a total market value up to RMB6 trillion ($860 billion). It opened with initial 25 companies on July 22, 2019.

"Hard technology" has become a major feature of the STAR Market, bringing together companies in advanced technologies and strategic emerging industries. It has formed a clustering effect in industry chains such as IC, digital economy, bio-pharmaceuticals, industrial robots, photovoltaics, and power batteries, said the Economic Information Daily.

Ming Ming, chief economist at CITIC Securities (中信证券), said, "The STAR Market adheres to innovation-driven strategy and cultivates a number of listed companies that make breakthroughs in manufacturing, bringing new solutions to China's industrial bottleneck sectors and driving the rapid development of China's capital market."

Currently, a total of seven STAR Market companies see their market value exceeding RMB100 billion ($14.34 billion), and 47 companies surpass RMB30 billion ($4.30 billion), the Economic Information Daily report said.

"For the last three years, there had been strong financing needs of diversified sci-tech enterprises. Star Market perfectly matches them," commented an analyst from Chinese securities brokerage company Shenwan Hongyuan Securities (申万宏源证券).

Meanwhile, the listed companies achieved revenue of RMB782.214 billion ($112.13 billion), up 33% year-on-year, showing strong resilience in face of the volatile domestic and international environment this year. Their net income attributable to common stockholders totaled RMB89.124 billion ($12.78 billion), with a 25% year-on-year growth.

In the first three quarters of 2022, the STAR Market companies invested RMB68.11 billion ($9.76 billion) in R&D, an increase of 33% year-on-year with their innovation-driven strategies.

In the past three years, STAR Market listed companies have implemented cash dividends of RMB54.677 billion ($7.84 billion) and completed share repurchases of RMB5.906 billion ($850 million), according to the Economic Information Daily report.