Shanghai Securities News | STAR Market Gathers 606 Listed Companies; STAR Market Composite Index Serves as Core Benchmark for New Quality Productive Forces

Shanghai Securities News www.cnstock.com (Reporter: Zhu Yan) On March 31, 2026, Following the listing of TJNE, the total number of listed companies on the STAR Market has reached 606. The STAR Market Composite Index provides a holistic perspective for observing the overall performance and development trend of the STAR Market. It has become one of the four core broad-based A-share indices alongside the Shanghai Composite Index, Shenzhen Component Index and ChiNext Index, serving as an important tool for domestic and overseas investors to track and share in the development dividends of China's new quality productive forces.

Shan Kuanzhi, Fund Manager of ChinaAMC SSE STAR Market Composite ETF, stated that the Outline of the "15th Five-Year Plan" explicitly sets forth a package of measures, including "promoting the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation", "advancing the empowerment of digital and intelligent technologies in all aspects", and "strengthening the principal role of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation", all aimed at achieving high-level self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology in China. The STAR Market is positioned to serve national strategic emerging industries. On the one hand, it gives priority to listing "hard technology" enterprises that achieve breakthroughs in key core technologies in the fields of new industries, new business forms and new technologies. On the other hand, it encourages listed companies on the STAR Market to conduct mergers, acquisitions and integration along the industrial chain, so as to foster diversified scientific and technological innovation industrial clusters and vigorously drive the high-quality development of new quality productive forces. Investors optimistic about the medium and long-term development of national strategic emerging industries may follow the STAR Market Composite Index and other representative indices of the STAR Market.

Li Boyang, Fund Manager of the Index Investment Department of E Fund, stated that STAR Market index products represented by the STAR Market Composite Index ETF are among the key investment tools for positioning the rise of China's hard technology sector and are suitable for long-term capital allocation. The STAR Market Composite Index covers more than 97% of the STAR Market's total market capitalization and includes over 580 enterprises, ranging from established sci-tech leading cmpanies to a large number of high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises, forming a hard technology matrix with full market capitalization coverage and a complete industrial chain. It boasts prominent allocation value in national strategic sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), biomedicine and high-end manufacturing. In terms of long-term returns, the index has delivered a competitive annualized return since its base date. Investors can share the compound benefits of technological iteration and industrial upgrading by adopting a long-term investment approach with patient capital.

Penghua Fund noted that recent geopolitical factors have triggered short-term market volatility. However, from a long-term development perspective, the core investment value of the STAR Market remains unchanged. As a core index reflecting the overall performance of the sector, the STAR Market Composite Index is opening up a favorable window for long-term allocation. In its view, the current value of the STAR Market is underpinned by three core pillars: continuous empowerment from the policy front and unimpeded listing channels for hard technology enterprises; accelerated domestic substitution and a surge in AI computing power demand driving an upturn in industrial chain prosperity; and sustained capital inflows with steady growth in the share size of multiple STAR Market-themed ETFs. Short-term geopolitical disturbances mainly affect market sentiment and will not reverse the trend of industrial upgrading. With the April earnings season approaching, investors are advised to downplay short-term market noise, take dips to allocate into sectors with clear prosperity prospects driven by policies and industrial catalysts, and share the growth dividends of sci-tech innovation enterprises from a long-term perspective.

Zhang Yulong, Chief Analyst of New Share Strategy at CSC Financial, stated that the STAR Market Composite Index serves as a core benchmark for observing China's "hard technology" and "new quality productive forces", following the STAR 50 Index. Positioned as a "panoramic view" of the STAR Market, the index covers basically all listed companies as its constituents, spanning the full spectrum from "industry leaders" to "specialized, sophisticated, distinctive and innovative" small and medium-sized enterprises. Despite recent volatility amid the US-Iran tensions, the index has posted a significant cumulative increase that outperforms major broad-based A-share indices. This fully reflects the market's value revaluation of hard technology assets and demonstrates the strong momentum of China's scientific and technological innovation in the new round of industrial cycles.