Late on Monday, 24 Chinese companies won regulatory approval to sell shares publicly, with some analysts expecting the IPOs to lock about 3 trillion yuan ($478.10 billion) of capital next week.
When the securities regulator approved the previous batch of IPOs in early February, it froze about 2 trillion yuan at one point, putting downward pressure on the stock market.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 2.6 percent to 3,507.90 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.2 percent to 3,263.05.
Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank Of China , down 3.4 percent to 3.97 yuan; China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd, down 2.5 percent to 6.22 yuan; and Agricultural Bank of China, down 3.3 percent to 3.25 yuan.
In Shenzhen, TCL Corp, down 2.5 percent to 5.08 yuan; BOE Technology, down 2.5 percent to 3.10 yuan and Dongxu Optoelec, up 4.3 percent to 9.16 yuan were among the most actively traded.
Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 38.1 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 25.3 billion shares.