Stocks fall on Ping An unlocking

Shanghai index dips below 3,000 points on news of sell-off plan

Ping An Insurance, China's second-biggest insurer, said yesterday three of its shareholders would sell 860 million restricted A-shares over the next five years, triggering a sell-off of its Shanghai shares and dragging the Shanghai Composite Index below 3,000 points.

From March 1, the three Shenzhen-based founding shareholders could sell 859.8 million shares, representing about 11.7 percent of Ping An's existing share capital, after the expiry of a three-year lock-up period, the insurer said in a statement to the Shanghai bourse.