Chinese stocks are on track to chalk up their worst weekly performances in at least five years.

中国股市即将出现至少五年内表现最差的一周。

The Shanghai Composite is down 2.3 per cent, taking the weekly decline to 9.5 per cent — the biggest weekly drop since a 12.8 per cent plunge¹ in the week ended October 10, 2008. It would also rank as the fifth-biggest weekly fall for the Chinese benchmark since 2000.

上证综指(Shanghai Composite)下跌2.43%，令该指数本周跌幅达到9.5%以上，这是自2008年10月10日以来的最大单周跌幅，还将是这一中国基准指数自2000年以来的第五大单周跌幅。在截至2008年10月10日的那一周，上证综指曾遭遇12.8%的巨大单周跌幅。

The Shenzhen Composite was down 3.3 per cent, bringing its weekly decline to 10.3 per cent. That would be the biggest weekly drop since the week ended Feb 27, 2009. One reason for the steep declines has been an active initial public offering market, which temporarily draws investors² – and their money – away from the secondary market.

深证综指(Shenzhen Composite)则一度下跌超过3.3%，令其单周跌幅达到10.3%。这将是自截至2009年2月27日的那周以来，该指数的最大单周跌幅。

On Wednesday, Guotai Junan Securities priced a $4.9bn IPO, the largest new listing so far this year according to Dealogic. It is also the largest Chinese A-share IPO since the Agricultural Bank of China's simultaneous listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges in July 2010 for a combined $22.1bn.

出现这一巨大跌幅的原因之一，是活跃的首次公开招股(IPO)市场暂时将投资者及其资金从二级市场吸引过去。

"Chinese issuers are leading the global new listing issuance with a record $34.8bn via 199 deals so far this year, more than double the $15.7bn reached in the same 2014 period," Dealogic analyst³ Ning Ma said.

以国泰君安证券(Guotai Junan Securities)周三的发行价计算，该公司IPO规模达49亿美元。根据Dealogic的数据，这是今年迄今规模最大的新股上市。它还是中国农业银行(Agricultural Bank of China)上市以来，中国A股最大规模的IPO。2010年7月，中国农行曾同时在香港和上海股市上市，募资总规模达221亿美元。

Another reason is the coming end of the second quarter. Banks may be pulling in their horns in preparation for end-of-quarter inspections⁴.

Dealogic分析师马宁表示：“中国发行商正在领跑全球新股上市，今年迄今已达成199宗交易，规模达到创纪录的348亿美元，比2014年同期的157亿美元增长了一倍以上。”

On Thursday, there was some encouraging data on the housing front, with the rate of decline of new home prices in China slowing, according to calculations by Reuters using official data. But Chinese shares slumped⁵ more than 3 per cent on the day, consistent with the notion that good news is bad insofar as it could make it less likely for Beijing to respond with more stimulus⁶.

还有一个原因则是第二季度即将结束，银行可能在减少开支，准备迎接季末审查。

周四，楼市出现了较为乐观的数据。根据路透社(Reuters)用官方数据得出的计算结果，中国新房价格的跌势趋缓。不过，当天中国股市下跌逾3%。这一局面符合那句谚语——坏消息就是好消息——原因是它或许会降低中国政府推出更多刺激性举措的可能性。