CHINESE firms seeking to be listed on the stock market may be disappointed again, as the much-anticipated resumption of initial public offerings may be further delayed, the China Securities Journal said yesterday.

The resumption of IPOs may be postponed until the third quarter of the year due to gloomy economic prospects and the need to reframe the country's IPO mechanism, the report said.

The market had widely expected the China Securities Regulatory Commission to resume the approval of IPOs no later than May. The regulator halted approvals in July 2012 after investors complained that massive offerings had drained liquidity and created a weak market.

The CSRC started reviewing financial statements filed by companies seeking IPOs in April. Hundreds of companies applied.

The financial statement verification process is stricter than before and much slower than the CSRC had specified, the report cited sources from investment banks and companies as saying.