The Beijing Stock Exchange is expected to see a profound and fast growth in a number of listed companies in the coming months and, therefore, is actively preparing to launch an index tracking market performance of the listed companies, the bourse said.

Long Haiyang, head of the executive office of the BSE, said the speed of companies getting listed on the exchange will significantly increase in the second half of the year compared with the first half, thanks to a growing number of IPO applicants and acceleration in filing by said applicants.

Long said the number of IPO applications accepted by the BSE is expected to surpass 90 in June, and the exchange may soon break the record it set on Tuesday when it accepted as many as 18 IPO applications in one single day.

As of Tuesday, the BSE had 100 listed companies and 105 IPO applications under review.

With a growing number of listed companies, the BSE will publish an index tracking market performance of BSE-listed companies at proper timing and encourage market participants to develop investment products based on the index, Long said.

The bourse, which started trading in November, now has more than 5 million qualified investors. Three qualified foreign institutional investors and two renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors have participated in BSE trading, according to the exchange.

Du Juan contributed to this story.