The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc will introduce the NASDAQ China Index in the second quarter of the year to track the performance of Chinese companies listed in the United States.

Initially, the index will comprise 30 such companies, which have a combined market capitalization of more than $600 billion and are listed on NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the American Stock Exchange.

"It will be a key benchmark to track the performance of innovative companies that have stimulated China's rapidly growing economy," NASDAQ President and CEO Bob Greifeld said in Beijing yesterday after opening the New York-based electronic exchange from China for the first time by ringing a ceremonial bell on Monday night.

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Greifeld's visit to Beijing is seen as a response to NASDAQ's biggest rival, the NYSE Group, which too rang a ceremonial bell in Paris yesterday to celebrate its merger with Euronext - a deal that created the first trans-Atlantic bourse.

The NYSE Group completed its $14.3-billion purchase of Paris-based Euronext NV after fending off rival Deutsche Boerse AG's bid and outmaneuvering NASDAQ, which also failed in its attempt to acquire the London Stock Exchange.

"We focus with great intensity on competition with NYSE. We are in the process of taking a part of the floor of the NYSE 'board by board'," Greifeld said, implying that investors want to trade on an "efficient electronic structure" rather than "an inefficient floor structure".

The NASDAQ president expressed confidence in Chinese companies, indicating the exchange would be the ultimate winner for having embraced the "future".

"NASDAQ and China both have enjoyed tremendous economic growth over the past decades, so our celebration truly commemorates our success. And more importantly, it's a statement on our future opportunities together," he said.

China's booming economy and innovative enterprises have created overheated competition among overseas exchanges to lure the country's companies for listing. Six Chinese companies were listed on NASDAQ in the first three months of the year, which Greifeld said was the exchange's most successful quarter in China.

NASDAQ has so far attracted 40 Chinese companies with a combined capitalization of $30 billion. But rival NYSE is still far ahead with 31 Chinese companies that have a total global market capitalization of $833 billion.