Lock-up shares eligible for trade surge

BEIJING - The value of lock-up shares becoming eligible on China's stock market this week will be substantially up on the previous week, according to data from the country's two stock exchanges.

From Monday to Friday, 29 listed companies on the two bourses will see shares worth 69.2 billion yuan ($11.24 billion) released to the market after lock-up agreements expire.

The amount is three times more than a combined value of 17.2 billion yuan that became tradable during the previous week.

Under China's market rules, major shareholders of non-tradable stocks are subject to a lock-up period of one or two years before they are permitted to sell their shares.

A rise in newly unlocked shares will put some downward pressure on the market as it means an increase in stock supply.

Chinese automobile maker BYD will see more than 1 billion shares released to the market on Monday worth 49.15 billion yuan, over 71 percent of the total value of shares become tradable this week.

The company's shares in Shenzhen closed 1.19 percent lower at 48.91 yuan on Friday.

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