BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- A total of 7.1 trillion yuan (about 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars) was raised on the Chinese capital market last year, according to official data.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) approved applications from 105 companies for initial public offerings on the stock market in 2018, with funds raised amounting to 137.8 billion yuan, data from the CSRC showed.

Refinancing by listed firms was worth around 1 trillion yuan last year.

Altogether 5.69 trillion yuan of bonds were issued on the exchange bond markets, up 45 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, 60.4 billion yuan and 178.3 billion yuan of funds were raised on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations and regional equity markets, respectively, which mainly served the financing needs of small businesses.

Chinese authorities have urged advancing capital market development to better fund enterprises and serve the real economy.