China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges said Wednesday night they are closely watching stock sales by big shareholders.
Last week, the China Securities Regulatory Commission asked big shareholders and management, those holding more than 5 percent of a company's stocks, not to offload more than 1 percent of the company's shares within any three-month period.
From Monday to Wednesday, a total of seven big shareholders sold a portion of their stakes, but the amount was so small that the market was not affected, said the two bourses in separate statements.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange said it has taken "special actions" to step up supervision and make sure that stock sales by big shareholders will not disturb market order.
Both exchanges said they will continue to closely watch such stock sales and urge sellers and buyers to disclose transaction information.
The sales restriction came amid repeated stock plunges in the new year as investor sentiment has yet to recover.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.42 percent to close at 2,949.6 points on Wednesday, and it has declined 16.7 percent so far in 2016, despite a mild recovery in autumn and winter following a stock rout last summer.
