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SEBI bans two firms for manipulating Sensex closing auction session
SEBI said the firms generated combined illegal gains of ₹3.68 crore while using large orders above and below reference prices on the 13 August Sensex expiry day.
India's market regulator, SEBI, has barred Copthall Mauritius Investment Ltd and Mansi Share and Stock Broking Pvt Ltd from accessing the securities market for alleged manipulation of the Sensex closing auction session.
SEBI said the firms acted during the 13 August closing auction session, a weekly Sensex expiry day for derivatives contracts, using large buy orders above reference prices to push the index higher, and large sell orders below reference prices to suppress it. According to SEBI, both entities cancelled the orders shortly after placing them.
The regulator ordered the firms to deposit a combined ₹3.68 crore and said Copthall made an illegal gain of ₹2.96 crore and Mansi Share generated unlawful profits of ₹71.65 lakh. SEBI also cited sharp spikes in the indicative equilibrium price on the day, including a Sensex jump of 362 points in two seconds, 132.67 points in 12 seconds, and another 405.08 points in 28 seconds.
SEBI said Copthall accounted for most of the aggressive buying during the spikes, and that it later cancelled ₹98.12 crore of buy orders across 30 stocks. It said Mansi placed sell orders totaling 12.65 lakh shares worth ₹143.44 crore across eight Sensex stocks, then cancelled the entire block within four seconds, a move SEBI linked to a 232.96-point surge in the equilibrium price.
Latest closeSensex 78,079.96 ▲0.1%