(Yicai Global) Feb. 28 -- Stock markets on the Chinese mainland opened mixed this morning as investors weighed the latest decline in business activity against the prospect of a new science and technology innovation board to support growth stocks.

The Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2,950.05, down 0.13 percent from yesterday's close, while the Shenzhen Component Index lost 0.05 percent to start at 9,001.18. The ChiNext price Index, which tracks growth enterprises in Shenzhen, gained 0.15 percent to 1,522.63.

China's purchasing managers' index for manufacturing slid to 49.2 this month, down 0.3 point from January and marking a third straight month of contracting, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics before markets opened today.

But smallcap supports were excited by the new sci-tech innovation board in Shanghai, which aims to help smaller enterprises get access to funding and could be about to start soon.

The board aims to better serve innovation-oriented enterprises and will serve as a prelude to capital market reforms, Yi Huiman, the newly appointed chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at his maiden news conference after markets closed yesterday.

Detail rules will be unveiled and the board should go live soon, added Huang Hongyuan, president of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, at the same briefing. Enterprises qualified to list on the new board include those that have "relatively high research and development expenses and good growth prospects," he said.