China's A-share market set a record high of 524 newly listed companies in 2021, with Shanghai and Shenzhen topping the list by having 48 and 41 newly listed enterprises, respectively, with Beijing (40) and Hangzhou (37) following closely.

A total of 4,685 companies have been listed on the A-share market in China as of Dec 31, 2021, with 46 percent of them based in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Wuxi, and Chengdu, said a report of National Business Daily on Wednesday. 

The Beijing Stock Exchange opened in November last year, triggering the number of the city's listed companies to 425, or 9.1 percent of the total number of A-share listed companies, with Shanghai and Shenzhen snapping on its heels at 420 and 388 listed companies, respectively.

The development of enterprises, as well as the push of local governments, has boosted the listings, the report said. For example, in early 2018, Central China's Hubei province launched a plan to double its listed companies by including the listing of enterprises into the government's annual performance assessment.

As the only midwestern city among the top 10, Chengdu set its record in 2021, by having 14 new A-share listed companies, with five firms listed overseas. In its 14th Five-Year Plan, Chengdu set a new goal to have 15 new listed companies annually, with more than 200 companies listed home and abroad.

Most listed companies in the top 10 cities come from industries such as information technology, electronics, mechanical equipment, medical biology, and electric power equipment, with information technology bearing most listed companies.

Beijing is home to 27 listed firms in media sector, while the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province owns large number of automobile listed firms. The listed enterprises in Hangzhou and Chengdu, on the other hand, are mainly in basic chemical engineering and military industry.