BEIJING -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations, also known as the "new third board," saw the debut of 17 new small and medium-sized enterprises during the past week.

With the newcomers, the total number of companies on the board reached 11,112.

From July 23 to 27, turnover on the board went down 3.91 percent from the previous week to 1.8 billion yuan (about $266 million), bringing the total turnover year to date to 50.5 billion yuan.

The exchange was launched in early 2013 to supplement the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges to serve small and medium-sized enterprises.

It is seen as an easier financing channel for small businesses, with low costs and simple listing procedures. Last year, total turnover on the board stood at about 227 billion yuan, up 18.7 percent from 2016.