Lock-up shares worth over 21b yuan eligible for trade

BEIJING - Lock-up shares worth about 21 billion yuan ($3.15 billion) will become eligible for trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses in the coming week.

The value will be slightly lower than the previous week's 24 billion yuan, according to brokerage Southwest Securities.

The lion's share of the new shares belongs to China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC), with more than 1.24 billion non-tradable shares worth 12.76 billion yuan unlocked Monday.

The shares will account for 9.15 percent of CRCC's total shares, CRCC said in a statement.

Other listed firms that will see large quantities of lock-up shares turn tradable include Shenzhen Ecobeauty, a company focused on gardening and landscaping, and furniture maker Sleemon.

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.

Chinese stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.01 percent, at 3,054.3 points, and the smaller Shenzhen index 0.28 percent lower at 10,823.21 points.