Market under pressure from slew of IPOs: analysts

China's A-share market is facing downward pressure and a thirst for funds as 33 companies are preparing to float this week, retail investors and analysts said Sunday.

A total of 33 new firms, including Beijing-based Ciming Health Checkup Management Group and Nsfocus Information Technology, are set to issue shares this week, the majority of which will be listed on Shenzhen's Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Board and the NASDAQ-style ChiNext.

"The flood of new IPOs will further push down the overall stock market," Yuan Guangming, a retail investor, told the Global Times Sunday. New stocks may draw funds away from existing ones, he said.

Investors have to set aside and freeze money in advance to join a lottery for subscription to new stocks. This will force them to sell shares they hold, which will lead to a slump in the overall market, Yuan said.

As of Friday, a total of 50 companies had announced plans to float since the regulator resumed approval of IPOs on December 30, following a 13-month moratorium.

The 50 newly approved firms plan to issue 2.61 billion new shares, worth 26.33 billion yuan ($4.3 billion yuan) in total, according to stock information provider Wind Information.

Last week, seven firms launched their IPOs.

Investors have been discouraged by the poor overall performance of the stock market, and recent IPO reforms have not addressed key problems in the system, "which is still favorable for fundraisers and underwriters, instead of protecting small investors," Yuan noted.

China's securities regulator aims to reform the country's IPO system by moving toward a more market-driven registration system, rather than the current administrative review-based mechanism.

It has announced a slew of new rules to protect small investors, such as asking the listing firms to warn investors if the price-to-earnings ratio of the IPO price is higher than that of existing stocks in the same sector.

The large number of new IPOs is leading to an over-supply of stocks and puts pressure on the overall market, Li Da-xiao, head of research at Yingda Securities, told the Global Times Sunday.

Li suggested the regulator could "take a break" from approvals every couple of months.

As of January 9, 667 firms are waiting for approval of their IPO plans, Securities Times reported Saturday, citing the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

The 600-plus firms have to submit financial reports for 2013 and will have to wait at least until March for approval, the CSRC said on Friday, which means a month-long break for IPOs in February.

Since IPO approvals resumed, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Component Index have dropped by about 5 and 6 percent respectively, falling to their lowest point since August 2013.