More than a third of mainland investors say they have lost at least 30 per cent of their equity investments in the first half of this year, according to an online survey by Chinese publication Sina.com, cited by the South China Morning Post.

According to the survey 35.5 per cent of the 54,400 respondents said their investment losses ran higher than 30 per cent between January and June. Of the group, 16.7 per cent said they lost more than half of their money.

Another 8.9 per cent lost between 10 and 30 per cent in the first half, while 70 per cent of those surveyed said the market had not yet hit rock bottom. 

The news will come as an embarrassment for the chief securities regulator Guo Shuqing, especially in light of the fact that the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.2 per cent over the last six months. The Chinese benchmark was one of the world's worst performing indices in the last two years, said the report.

The poll did not show the reason for the retail investor's losses, but losses are often sustained by chasing short-term gains by trading shares on rumours. Mainland retail investors are often described as having a day trading culture.