86-billion-yuan lock-up shares tradable

BEIJING -- Lock-up shares worth 85.8 billion yuan ($13 billion) will become eligible for trade on China's stock markets next week.

About 7.1 billion shares from 63 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses from Monday to Friday in the first week after the lunar new year holiday, statistics showed.

SDIC Essence Co Ltd, a Shanghai-listed investment management company, will see shares worth 21.4 billion yuan become tradable on Friday, the largest amount to hit the market.

Under current rules, major shareholders of non-tradable stocks are subject to one or two years of lock-up before they are permitted to trade.