$1.4 billion in lock-up shares ready for China stock markets

An investor watches an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage office in Beijing, March 30, 2016.[Photo/VCG]

BEIJING -- Lock-up shares worth nearly 9 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) will become eligible for trade on China's stock markets in the coming trading week.

The mainland's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets are closed on Monday for the Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, when Chinese people pay homage to their ancestors.

The value of unblocked shares is much smaller than shares worth about 25.6 billion yuan that entered the market last week.

More than 620 million shares from 13 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from Tuesday to Friday, according to brokerage Southwest Securities.

China West Construction Group, listed in Shenzhen, will see the unlocking of 196 million non-tradable shares worth 3.1 billion yuan on Friday, the largest batch of shares to hit the market during the 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.