(Yicai Global) July 5 -- The Chinese mainland’s initial public offerings market should do even better in the second half, after becoming the biggest in the world in the first six months, and raise a record amount of funds this year, according to UK professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A huge group of heavyweight IPOs will be completed on the mainland stock exchanges in the second half, Sun Jin, PwC China Integrated Business Services partner, said yesterday. The mainland market is bucking the global downward trend largely due to the government’s support for tech startups and newly emerging sectors.

There will probably be between 330 and 380 listings on the mainland this year, raising as much as CNY635 billion (USD95 billion), Wang Song, managing partner in charge of PwC’s North China auditing division, said yesterday.

In the six months ended June 30, both the number of IPOs and the value of funds raised on mainland bourses outstripped other capital markets around the globe, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers data. Shanghai secured CNY210.5 billion (USD31.5 billion) and Shenzhen CNY98.6 billion (USD14.7 billion), to rank first and second worldwide.

The overall funds raised over the period accounted for nearly half of the global sum, Wang said at the press conference on 'IPO performance and outlooks on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

Of the top 10 IPOs in the country, two were on the Shanghai main board, five were on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Nasdaq-style Star Market and three on the Shenzhen bourse’s science and technology ChiNext board. The Star Market and ChiNext Board were the most active exchanges, accounting for 72 percent of new listings and 65 percent of the overall fundraising amount.

New share issuances will hopefully speed up in the second half with the encouragement of the Star Market and the ChiNext Board, Wang added.

Although the number of IPOs slumped by 31 percent in the first half from the same period last year to 169, the amount of money raised surged 48 percent year on year to CNY311.9 billion (USD46.6 billion), PwC said. The average amount raised by each company doubled from a year ago to CNY1.8 billion (USD269.1 million) each. And over 90 percent of these firms were in strategic emerging sectors, he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor