Lock-up shares worth 80b yuan to become tradable

BEIJING - Lock-up shares worth nearly 80 billion yuan ($12.6 billion) will become eligible for trade on China's stock market next week.

About 7.8 billion shares from 20 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses. The value of these shares is smaller than the 101 billion yuan in shares unlocked this week, indicating weaker pressures on the faltering recovery of China's equity market.

State-owned energy giant Power China will see non-tradable shares worth around 52.4 billion yuan become tradable on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday, the largest amount to hit the market.

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.

China's fragile stock market recorded substantial gains this week, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rising 6.5 percent over the five trading days. On Friday, the index went up 1.6 percent to end at 3,391.35 points.