The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has not found any irregular patterns, abusive market practices or insider trading in the shares of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) on January 22, 2020.
According to a statement of the SECP issued here on Monday, the commission has concluded its probe into allegations that appeared in the media about the manipulation in the shares of OGDCL on January 22, 2020, with respect to purported rumors about its privatization at a discount to the market price.
An exhaustive analysis was carried out including investigation of data at order and trade level in the ready and futures market, scrutiny of volume leaders, day traders, profit makers, all categories of investors, brokerage houses, etc.
Based on the analysis, it has been observed that individuals and mutual funds contributed to 38% and 24% of the total selling volume, respectively. On the buying side, individuals contributed to 49% and brokers to 24% of the buying volume. The total amount of profit-taking by the top ten traders aggregated to Rs. 1.7 million.
Among these top ten traders, the maximum profit of Rs. 307,381 made by an institution. Hence, the analysis did not reveal any irregular patterns, abusive market practices or insider trading. Moreover, the trading activity of 22nd January 2020 was reviewed to rule out any possibility of abusive market practices carried out with the objective of realizing any undue future gains.
SECP is fully committed to promoting the integrity and efficiency of the capital market by making it more disciplined and transparent. The regulator has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards offenses and market abuses and has accordingly strengthened its surveillance capabilities and systems. Over the past six months alone, 17 prohibitory orders were issued and two criminal complaints were filed related to violations of securities laws.
Nevertheless, investors are advised not to indulge in speculative trading based on rumors and disinformation; rather, investment decisions should be made considering the fundamentals of a company, SECP added.
