BEIJING - The Shenzhen Stock Exchange has accepted a total of 168 applications for initial public offering (IPO) under the pilot registration-based system in ChiNext, China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises.

The stock exchange had also accepted 83 refinancing applications and three material assets reorganization applications as of Thursday morning.

Nearly half of the accepted enterprises are in the areas of computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing, professional equipment manufacturing, and software and information technology services.

The provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang remain the three main places where the accepted enterprises are registered, accounting for 40, 31 and 23 enterprises, respectively.

China decided in late April to reform ChiNext and replace its approval-based IPO system with a registration-based one, introducing a series of measures in a bid to better cultivate new industry start-ups and bolster the real economy.