NET profits and revenues of Chinese brokerages fell sharply in January due to sluggish stock markets which scared off investors.

The total revenue for all the listed 15 mainland brokerages plunged by 69.18 percent to 3.73 billion yuan (US$567 million) in January from a month earlier while net earnings fell nearly 77 percent to 1.2 billion yuan from December.

Weak share performances that led to a smaller trading turnover contributed to the sharp drop and crimped brokerages' profits, analysts at Haitong Securities told Securities Daily.

The Shanghai Composite Index extended a loss of 0.62 percent in January, following a 14.3 percent drop last year. The CSI 300 lost 1.65 percent while the SSE SME Composite Index fell 9.49 percent during the same period.

The average daily turnover shrank 20 percent from December to 172.38 billion yuan in January.

Haitong Securities was the best among the declining brokers as its monthly revenue tumbled 43.88 percent and net profits fell 8.11 percent from December.

Citic Securities Co came in bottom as its revenue dived to 174 million yuan and profit was a mere 4.22 million yuan.