Lock-up shares worth 97.3b yuan eligible for trade

BEIJING - Lock-up shares worth about 97.3 billion yuan ($14.1 billion) will become eligible for trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in the coming week.

This is a sharp increase from shares worth 46.2 billion yuan that were unlocked this week, according to Wind, an information service provider.

About 17.6 billion shares will become tradable from April 8 to 16, with Boe Technology Group, a display screen producer, set to unlock 36.3 billion yuan of non-tradable shares, the largest volume to be released next week.

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

On Friday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index increased by 0.17 percent to close at 3,286.62 points, a 15-month high. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.12 percent higher at 10,669.48 points.