SHANGHAI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Trading on China’s Beijing Stock Exchange kicked off on Monday, with shares of the 10 companies that recently conducted initial public offerings (IPOs) on the new bourse surging as much as six-fold and triggering circuit breakers. A total of 81 stocks started trading here to mark the official launch of the exchange, just two months after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced plans for the bourse, which is designed to serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Performance of the other 71 stocks - which were transferred from the “Select Tier” of Beijing’s over-the-counter “New Third Board” - was mixed. China has stepped up support for SMEs as part of Xi’s vision of “common prosperity” aimed at reducing wealth gaps. “It’s another landmark in the reform and development of China’s capital market,” said Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). “It’s significant in enhancing multi-layered capital market, improving financing system for SMEs and driving innovation and upgrading China’s economy.” The new exchange complements existing bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen. More than 4 million investors have opened accounts to trade on the Beijing Stock Exchange, which adopts a registration-based IPO mechanism. Such an IPO system is also adopted by Shenzhen’s ChiNext and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Himani Sarkar)