SHANGHAI stocks slumped to a more than six-month low after the Chinese securities regulator said initial public offerings may resume at the end of July.

This follows a suspension for nearly eight months.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 15.84 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,143.45 - the lowest close since December 13.

Turnover was 67.1 billion yuan (US$11 billion) at the trading close.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission told brokerages yesterday that it is almost certain that the IPO reboot will occur at the end of next month.

"The reboot of IPOs will hurt investor sentiment and dampen the market performance in the short term," Chen Li, analyst with UBS Investment Research said in a report today.

China has not approved any new share offerings since November in a campaign to crack down on false disclosures and profit manipulations.

As of the end of May, 666 companies were lined up to launch IPOs on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses.

Data from Wind Information Co showed 83 applicants who have passed the IPO review process plan to raise a total of 60 billion yuan.

The market was also hit by a liquidity crunch.

The seven-day repurchase rate, a gauge of interbank funding cost, surged 137.20 basis points to 8.08 percent in Shanghai today.

Meanwhile, lenders tumbled. Industrial Bank Co lost 2.5 percent to 16.22 yuan. China Minsheng Banking Corp dropped 2 percent to 9.75 yuan. China Merchants Bank Co fell 1.8 percent to 11.98 yuan.