Lock-up shares worth 71b yuan eligible for trade

BEIJING - Lock-up shares worth some 71.3 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) will become eligible for trade on China's stock markets in the coming week.

A total of nearly 5.2 billion shares of 37 companies will be tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

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

The value of the upcoming shares almost doubled the amount released this week, putting some downward pressure on the market due to the increase in stock supply.

China Shipbuilding Industry Company Ltd will see 1.6 billion non-tradable shares hit the market on Jan 23, the largest size to be released next week.