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Nasdaq wants to further develop a relationship with China, Robert Greifeld, Nasdaq's Chief Executive Officer, said here at a news conference Wednesday.

Nasdaq, the largest electronic screen-based equity securities market in the United States, lists about 3,200 companies including Microsoft, Dell and Yahoo. It had an average daily turnover of about 20 billion US dollars as of October 31.

"China is an incredibly important market to us," Greifeld said, "it has been the single largest source of IPOs for us (outside the United States)over the last 18 months ."

Since Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc.'s debut in 1999, 24 Chinese companies, including the major Chinese web portals of Sina and Sohu, have been listed on Nasdaq.

Eighteen Chinese companies have been listed in Nasdaq over the last two years and all eight Chinese companies that have sought to be listed in the United States in 2005 chose Nasdaq, he said.

However, the combined market value of the 24 Nasdaq-listed Chinese companies only totaled about 15 billion US dollars, far less than the 16 Chinese companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange which are valued at 335 billion US dollars.

Greifeld said that he would meet with senior officials of the companies currently listed and those seeking listing on Nasdaq and with various legal bodies managing the Chinese capital market operation. He also wants to study "the basic ecosystem of the economy here".

"Clearly, the Chinese market is an important market for us." Greifeld said, adding, "We want to further develop a relationship with China."

Greifeld gave a speech to Tsinghua, a leading Chinese university, before the news conference. This is his first trip to China since he became Nasdaq CEO.