Value of unlocked shares to drop in July

BEIJING - The liquidity pressure on China's stock market will likely ease this month as the value of unlocked shares will drop markedly.

Lock-up shares worth more than 300 billion yuan ($45 billion) will become eligible for trading in July, down 18.12 percent from a month ago, data from Southwest Securities showed. The amount was the fourth largest this year.

A total of 127 public firms will have their shares unlocked, down significantly from 207 in June.

Fifty-two companies will see unlocked shares worth more than 1 billion yuan. Property developer Greenland Holdings Corporation will see around 64 billion yuan of unlocked shares, the largest to hit the market, followed by online retailer Suning, and leading molybdenum producer China Molybdenum Co Ltd.

Under China's market rules, major shareholders must wait one to two years before they are permitted to sell their shares.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.17 percent to end at 2,847.42 Friday, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 3.39 percent higher at 9,379.47.