Lock-up shares worth nearly 46.7 billion yuan (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) will become eligible for trade on China's stock market in the coming week.
More than 4.1 billion shares from 18 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from Monday to Friday, according to data compiled by market intelligence provider Tonghuashun.
Guanghui Energy Co., a Xinjiang-based energy company, will see the unlocking of nearly 2.2 billion non-tradable shares on Wednesday, 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 shrank substantially from 58.1 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 a 6.5-percent plunge on Thursday rattled investors in Chinese shares, which have realized remarkable performance since the last quarter of 2014.
