Chinese companies scaled back or slowed their fundraising plans in January because of a slump in the stock market and increased government efforts to control liquidity and tame inflation, industry data have showed.

Domestic companies raised 166.15 billion yuan (US$22.23 billion) from the securities market last month, a 3.43 percent fall from a year ago. The amount was also 25.73 percent less than December's 223.72 billion yuan.

The decrease was in line with the government's determination to confine the financing volume "in a reasonable level" at a time when its top priority was to battle inflation caused partly by excessive liquidity in the markets, Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday, citing statistics jointly compiled by the newspaper and Shanghai Gildata Service Co.

Also in January, markets are usually short of funds before the Spring Festival.

Another factor was the weak stock market. Companies raised 65.15 billion yuan from the stock market last month, down from 68.67 billion yuan a year earlier and 118.34 billion yuan in December. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.23 percent in January.

Debt financing, in which companies raise money by selling bonds, bills or notes, also declined in volume. In January, a total of 101 billion yuan was raised from debt financing, an annual drop of 71.06 billion yuan.