Commission earnings for Chinese securities companies dropped 39.14 percent in the first nine months of this year as the country's stock market slumped, Wednesday's China Securities Journal reported.

Securities companies earned a total of 79.92 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) in commission fees during the January-September period, down from 131.32 billion yuan of the same 2007 period.

The newspaper said companies are earning less because fewer people are buying and selling securities. Fees are collected based on trade volume.

The aggregate turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses reached 26.64 trillion yuan, compared with the 43.77 trillion yuan during the same period last year.

The country's key Shanghai index tumbled nearly 65 percent from last year's all-time high of 6,124 points. It hit a new low of 1,802.33 points in September.

However, there is some good news for securities firms. China's Securities Regulatory Commission's announced it will launch margin trading business for securities firms allowing traders to borrow part of the money necessary to buy or sell a security.

According to the CITIC Securities forecast, the new business will result in an annual increase of 3.6 to six billion yuan in broker commission earnings.