Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province recently saw five of its local companies listed on the Jinxing Board at the Shanxi Equity Exchange Center, taking the number of the city's listed companies on the same board to 23.

The five listed companies are engaged in the fields of agriculture, technology, materials, architectural decoration and engineering.

Operating under the auspices of the Shanxi Provincial Government, the Shanxi Equity Exchange Center is the only regional stock market in Shanxi province and is also a private equity market for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the province.

Companies listed on the Jinxing Board, the highest-level board of the Shanxi Equity Exchange Center, can enjoy a slew of services. These include access to business incubation services, equity custody, equity pricing, investment and financing matchmaking, as well as equity transaction transfers. 

Eventually they can, if successful, move on the higher-level capital markets such as China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations and Growth Enterprises Market. 

Local officials say that private enterprises and SMEs are the largest and most groups of innovative enterprises in Yangquan. 

They said the city has always attached great importance to the local SMEs' development, especially in the field of stock reform and listing. 

The city's authorities have lent a helping hand, by formulating related support policies, encouraging and guiding enterprises to participate in the multi-level capital markets, so as to help them solve financing difficulties and promote their rapid and healthy expansion.