BEIJING — China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotation (NEEQ), also known as the “new third board”, saw 135 new small and medium-sized enterprises debut in the past week.

The newcomers brought the total number of companies on the board to 11,523, according to data from the NEEQ.

Turnover on the board stood at 2.65 billion yuan (about $397.3 million) last week, down 17.24 percent from the previous week.

NEEQ was launched in early 2013 to supplement the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in serving small and medium-sized enterprises.

It is seen as an easy financing channel for small businesses with low costs and simple listing procedures.