The first Chinese shipbuilder to join Aim is expected to be introduced to the market on Thursday. Dong Fang Shipbuilding is expected to have a market capitalisation of about ￡32m after raising $14.3m in a pre-flotation exercise, mostly from investors in Singapore.

In spite of the turbulence in the equity and bond markets, there has been a pick-up in the number of admissions to Aim over the past couple of months. In July 12 companies joined the market while only 13 delisted, indicating that the total number of companies might be starting to stabilise at about 1,150 after several of years of decline from the peak of 1,700.

However, raising new money remains tough. MoneySwap, a currency trading specialist based in Hong Kong, was due to join the market on Friday with a market capitalisation of ￡20m after raising ￡3.1m. But last Wednesday the company rescheduled its admission to next Monday.