Lock-up shares worth 18.2b yuan eligible for trade

BEIJING -- Lock-up shares worth 18.2 billion yuan ($2.98 billion) will become eligible for trade on China's stock market?this week.

A total of 1.6 billion shares from 25 companies will be tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses from July 13 to July 17, down from 76 billion yuan shares unlocked?earlier week, according to Southwest Securities.

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

Shenyang Brilliant Elevator Co will see non-tradable shares worth around 5.4 billion yuan become tradable on July 17, the largest amount of such shares to hit the stock market in the period.

After plunging by over 30 percent from its June 12 peak, China's key stock index staged a strong rebound for a second consecutive day on Friday on the back of a raft of government support measures.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 4.54 percent to end at 3,877.8 points on Friday, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 4.59 percent higher at 12,038.15. The ChiNext, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, jumped 4.11 percent to end at 2,535.89.