BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotation (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw 18 new small and medium-sized enterprises this week.

The newcomers brought the total number of companies on the board to 11,623, official data showed Saturday.

Turnover on the board stood at 2.6 billion yuan (about 400 million U.S. dollars) from Jan. 2 to 5, down 68.14 percent from the previous week partly due to the New Year's Day holiday.

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.

Last year, total turnover on the board stood at 227.18 billion yuan, up 18.7 percent from 2016.