Lock-up shares worth 34.5b yuan to become tradable

BEIJING - Lock-up shares worth around 34.5 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) will become eligible for trade on China's stock market in the coming week.

Nearly 2.1 billion shares from 22 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from Monday to Friday, data compiled by market intelligence provider Tonghuashun showed on Sunday.

Pacific Securities, a Kunming-based brokerage firm, will see the unlocking of 825 million non-tradable shares on Tuesday, the largest volume to be released next week.

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 market value of these shares due next week more than halved compared with 72.5 billion yuan of stocks unlocked this week. New shares will put some downward pressure on the market due to the increase in stock supply.

The upcoming stocks will hit the market after Chinese shares have realized remarkable performance since the last quarter of 2014, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up about 30 percent in the last three months.

Investors are flocking to broker companies to open trading accounts, but China Securities Regulatory Commission warned of market risks and advised small investors to make rational decisions.