The ChiNext Index, just launched by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Tuesday, was up 1.28 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 998.39 points in Thursday's trading.

The index has a base value of 1,000 points. It will become one the three core indices, together with the Shenzhen Component Index and the Shenzhen SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Board Index, to reflect the performance of China's stocks listed on the exchange.

The ChiNext Board, which started trading on Oct. 30, 2009, is a Nasdaq-style growth enterprises board, and mainly lists high-tech companies and those with high growth potential.

A maximum of 100 stocks listed on the ChiNext Board are to be used to base the index on, according to a statement posted on the SSE's website.

Currently, the board has 86 companies listed on it with a total market capitalization of about 383.46 billion yuan (56.14 billion U.S. dollars.