China’s New Stock Exchange Is Off to a Strong Start

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China’s newest stock exchange is following up its solid opening week with more gains this week, as Beijing seeks to stimulate its laggard equities markets.

Of the 81 firms listed on the new Beijing Stock Exchange, 77 saw growth Tuesday, with several hovering in double digits. This follows a robust opening day last Monday and a 158.69% total increase over last week, with overall turnover of 21.2 billion yuan ($3.3 billion), according to data published by the Financial News, a publication of China’s central bank.

Such gains were generally expected. The exchange—which hosts small and midsize companies that have strong profitability records and have been deemed ripe for innovation—was announced in September by President Xi Jinping, and has been called by Chinese media one of his “pet projects.”

“The trading has been smooth and isn’t a surprise. The exchange was launched with record speed, with full policy support from the very top. There is political and economic incentives for traders to participate in the historic opening with strong trading volume,” Hao Hong, managing director of Bank of Communication’s BOCOM International, told Barron’s.

In addition to the dynamic trading activity, more than 340,000 new investor accounts have been opened since the start of last week, bringing total accounts to 4.37 million, the exchange told the official Xinhua News Agency. And a first batch of eight theme funds selling shares from the exchange opened last week and sold out within hours.

Yet access to trading on the exchange—which is now mainland China’s third, after the bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen—isn’t easy.

“For now, there is investment hurdle, such as a minimum trading account balance, for investors in this board. Foreign investors are not yet allowed to open individual trading accounts. There is resident requirement,” Hong said.

Unlike the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen, the Beijing exchange uses a registration-based initial public offering system, similar to that used by most Western stock markets, which relies more on disclosure requirements rather than China’s traditional means of government-run equities agencies handpicking who may list.

The opening of the new exchange comes as Washington and Beijing have been scrutinizing Chinese companies listed or looking to list in New York. The regulatory tightening has mostly been forecast to help Hong Kong’s stock market, which has made its own moves to welcome…