The put warrant, which totals 1.227 billion shares, will cost 3.2 billion yuan (US$420.06 million) based on yesterday's exercise price. Its number of shares will account for one third of the total CMB put warrants currently in circulation.

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Among the 15 securities brokerages, Guotai Junan Securities Co Ltd contributed 300 million shares of the put warrant, followed by Everbright Securities with 182 million; Guosen Securities, 136 million; Guangfa Securities, 91 million and China Merchants Securities, 80 million.

The CMB put warrant will expire on September 1, with an exercise price of 5.48 yuan, far below the current 24 yuan. It means that unless CMB's share price falls 80 percent in the next two months, will such put warrants become worthless.

CMB put warrants ended at 2.59 yuan per share yesterday, down 6.9 percent from the previous day's closing, with a 268.4 percent turnover rate.

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