TOKYO, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The much-anticipated sci-tech innovation board (STAR) is of great significance to the development of China's capital market, Hidetoshi Tashiro, chief economist at Japan's Sigma Capital Ltd, has said.

Tashiro said he has been paying close attention to the innovation board in China since last year.

It can help China identify and support the most promising companies and will become a pillar to support the expansion of China's high-tech industry, he said in an interview with Xinhua on Monday.

Tashiro said the new board, which is intended to be a transparent and fair platform to support entrepreneurship, can help competitive Chinese companies raise funds for their expansion.

Investors have come to understand that it represents the direction for the growth of China's capital market, he said.

China's sci-tech innovation board, which is its latest Nasdaq-style high-tech board, started trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on Monday, bolstering China's capital market reform efforts.

The debut of the first batch of 25 listed firms was impressive: As of Monday's closing, they gained about 140 percent on average, with one of them surging more than 400 percent.

The launch of the new board marks China's latest attempt to turn the A-share market into a more market-oriented and law-based one.

The new board focuses on companies in high-tech and strategically emerging sectors such as next-generation IT, advanced equipment, new materials, new energy, environmental protection and bio-medicine.