8 bln yuan of lock-up shares to hit Chinese market

China's stock market will see lock-up shares worth about 8 billion yuan -- or one-and-a-quarter billion U.S. dollars -- become eligible for trade this week. That's around one third of last week's value.

More than 544 million shares from 10 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from Monday to Friday. 

Beijing-based New Hualian Group will see the unlocking of nearly 240 million non-tradable shares worth about 1.8 billion yuan on Tuesday. That's the largest group of shares to hit the market during the week.

Starting on Tuesday, all of the company's shares will become tradable. 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.