Chinese listed companies raised 1.02 trillion yuan (US$154.8 billion) of funds through their financing activities in the A-share stock markets last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Friday.

According to the CSRC data, a record number of 531 listed companies conducted financing activities in the A-share markets in 2010.

The 1.02 trillion yuan of funds raised in the markets was an all-time high for China's equity markets.

Among the raised funds, a record 488.3 billion yuan was raised by 347 companies during their initial public offerings (IPOs) last year, making China the largest IPO market in the global equity markets.

The figure was more than what many economists and institutions forecast at the beginning of 2010, as they expected Chinese companies to raise only around 320 billion yuan from IPOs for the year.

The amount of funds raised through new listings reached 185.6 billion yuan in China in 2009.

Chinese capital markets have developed rapidly since 2005 when China launched a reform on non-tradable shares to improve market liquidity.

Before the reform, some 6 billion yuan of funds were raised through financing activities in the Chinese markets in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2011)