Lock-up shares worth about 39 billion yuan (about 5.68 billion U.S. dollars) will become eligible for trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in the coming week.

About 2.956 billion shares will become tradable from Feb. 20 to 24, according to Wind, an information service provider.

The volume was sharply down from the 83 billion yuan in shares unlocked this week.

Southwest Securities is likely to unlock 1 billion non-tradable shares, the largest volume to be released next week.

Lock-up shares worth about 291.3 billion yuan will become eligible for trade on the two bourses in February.

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

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.85 percent to 3,202.08 points Friday. The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.55 percent lower at 10,197.92 points.

Source: Xinhua