(Yicai Global) Aug. 22 -- China's new Star Market, a Shanghai Stock Exchange board dedicated to innovative science and technology firms, has been running smoothly so far and investors have shown considerable enthusiasm, according to the SSE.

The first month of operations has seen the stock price of all 28 listed firms increase, at a median of 160 percent and mean of 171 percent -- nearly tripling, the bourse said at a press event yesterday. Biomedicine and information technology firms are among the top gainers so far.

Daily average trading volume was CNY25.4 billion (USD  billion) over the period, with the total CNY585 billion making up 13.8 percent of all exchanges in Shanghai. Around 89 percent of trades have been from individual investors, with the remainder from institutions, and nearly 40 percent of investors who can access the Star Market have made trades through it.

The board had accepted 152 listing applications as of yesterday, including 57 from IT firms, 34 from biomed companies, 28 from high-end equipment makers, 14 from new materials producers, and 19 from firms involved in environmental protection or other fields.

The applicants have an average compound revenue growth rate of 49 percent over the past three years, with research and development spending making up 11.5 percent of their outgoings, on average.

The 28 listees so far all priced their shares in line with market expectations, and their price-earnings to growth ratio, based on estimates on earnings per share this year, is 34 -- lower than that of comparable companies, the SSE said.

The bourse has increased trading supervision and found eight abnormal transactions, it added, saying five of these involved inflating or suppressing stock prices and three false declarations. It has sent written warnings to nine individual investors.

Editor: James Boynton