BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotation (NEEQ), also known as the "new third board," saw the debut of 14 new small and medium-sized enterprises last week.

The newcomers brought the total number of companies on the board to 11,606, according to new NEEQ data.

From March 12 to 16, turnover on the board stood at 1.6 billion yuan (about 253 million U.S. dollars), down 9.19 percent from the previous week.

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.