SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's proposed Nasdaq-style technology board has entered a "sprint" stage and the technical system is expected to be ready by May, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE (LON:SSE)) said on Tuesday.
The SSE made the comments in a post on its official WeChat account, in which it also said the board's issuance and listing systems were ready and that it plans to conduct a debugging test in March.
China has promised to smooth the way for Chinese IPOs through the establishment of the SSE's "technology innovation board". It published trading and listing rules for the board last week.
The SSE also said in the WeChat post that it plans to issue more supporting rules and guidelines, and would soon begin to offer training to market institutions.
It said, however, as of now applications have been received from companies interested to list on the board.
China has long wanted its tech champions to list closer to home, but many of the best-known Chinese technology firms, including Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Co Ltd and Tencent Holdings, chose to raise funds in international markets.
New York and Hong Kong accounted for nearly 70 percent of the money raised through Chinese IPOs last year.