Investor enthusiasm for new listings on the Chinese mainland stock markets is waning as more than 60 percent of the new shares that debuted this year have fallen below their initial public offering price.

A survey on Hexun.com, China's biggest business news website, showed 64.04 percent of participants said they would not subscribe for any future new listings, compared with 11.21 percent who answered positively.

The survey also found that 27 percent of the respondents cited the problem of overvalued IPO prices as the prime reason for the stocks' below-par performance while 19.22 percent attributed a high price-to-earnings ratio as the major cause for the decline.

By yesterday, 21 companies were listed on the A-share markets and 14 of them have fallen below their IPO prices. Nine stocks plunged on their first trading day, compared with 26 stocks for the whole of 2010.

On Tuesday, all five new listings tumbled below their offering prices, with Changshu Fengfan Power Equipment Co shrinking 14.46 percent from its IPO price to make it the worst debut performer in 15 years. The Shanghai-listed power equipment maker continued to fall yesterday, shedding 0.43 percent.

Analysts also blamed financial institutions for the debutants' decline as they fixed the IPO prices too high. But these institutions also suffered when the stocks fell. Twenty-seven of these institutions lost a total of 42.8 million yuan when the five stocks fell on Tuesday.

More than 400 firms are expected to raise more than 600 billion yuan from their listings this year, according to Ernst & Young.