BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Locked shares from 27 listed companies will become eligible for trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges next week.
Calculated with previous closing prices, the shares are worth about 27.5 billion yuan (about 4.1 billion U.S. dollars), according to financial information provider Wind Info.
The figure represents a rise of over 148 percent from the past week.
Five companies will see locked shares worth more than 12 billion yuan made eligible for trade Thursday, accounting for 43.79 percent of the total unlocked shares.
The top three companies were High-tech enterprise Visionox Technology Inc., IT service provider Digital China Group Co. Ltd. and condiment provider Qianhe Condiment and Food Co. Ltd, if the value of their unlocked shares was measured by closing prices Friday.
Under China's stock market rules, major shareholders must wait one to two years before they are permitted to sell shares.