(Yicai) June 18 -- Only 41 companies have gone public on the Chinese mainland so far this year, the lowest number in a decade, as Chinese authorities raise the criteria for companies to list, according to the latest data.

Thirty-one of these companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, a drop of 70 percent from the same period last year, according to data provider Wind Information. Together they raised CNY27.5 billion (USD3.79 billion), slumping more than 80 percent from a year earlier.

The market capitalization of newly-listed firms has contracted this year from the same period last year. The valuation of those companies listed on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star Market shrank the most at 63 percent, while those on Shenzhen’s ChiNext Board declined 52 percent, and those on the main board 7 percent. Only 10 stocks’ price-to-earnings ratios were higher than the market average.

But on the whole, the newly listed stocks are performing better than before. Only three of the 31 companies that debuted on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses this year have dropped below their IPO price.

And just one did so on its first trading day, accounting for 2.4 percent of the newly-listed stocks. This is a drop of 16 percentage points from the same period last year.

Instead, 17 newly-listed stocks more than doubled in price on their first trading day, making up 55 percent of the total compared with 11 percent last year.

Editor: Kim Taylor