Resources companies are set to dominate share market listings early in 2017, after having been on the nose last year.

Out of 23 companies that are currently planning an initial public offering (IPO) in 2017, almost half (11) are in the resources sector.

That compares with just 12 resources-related companies listing during the whole of 2016.

"A significant proportion of these are focused on lithium and cobalt, a sign of the continuing push for materials used in the creation of energy cells," observed Marcus Ohm, a partner at accounting firm HLB Mann Judd, which compiled the IPO Watch report.

In a sharp reversal on last year, only one of the planned listings is a tech company.

In 2016, around a third of the IPOs that took place involved tech or biotech companies.

Overall, last year was a solid year for IPOs, with 94 floats raising $7.5 billion.

The number of IPOs was up from 85 in 2015 and the value of the IPOs rose 7 per cent.

However, the lack of major listings meant that the amount of funds raised last year was less than half of the record $16.7 billion invested in IPOs in 2014.

HLB Mann Judd observed that the vast majority of companies achieved of exceeded their fund raising targets.

It also found that, on average, investors in IPOs beat the broader market, with a 16 per cent gain versus 7 per cent for the benchmark index.

However, subscribers to IPOs needed to be choosy, with a minority (40 out of 94) of floats finishing the year in the black, while the majority of IPOs lost value.