china yuan

Lock-up shares worth around 45 billion yuan (7 billion U.S. dollars) will become eligible for trade on China's stock market next week.

About 2.31 billion shares from 29 companies will become tradable on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, data from Southwest Securities showed. The volume was down from 55 billion yuan of shares unlocked this 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.

Beijing Urban Construction Investment and Development Co. will see non-tradable shares worth around 8.46 billion yuan become tradable on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Aug. 20, the largest amount to hit the market.

Chinese shares showed signs of improvement on Friday after the central bank's reassurance that the yuan would not face long-term depreciation. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.28 percent to close at 3,965.34 points.