The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is probing recent trades on Asian Alliance Insurance (AAIC) due to the unusual price hikes seen in the share during the past few days to verify if there’re manipulative plays in this share, informed sources said.
“The CSE is concerned about these ‘bizarre’ price increases. It is already scrutinising these trades," a source told the Business Times. The source said that AAIC has hit a 50% rise in price during the past few days and that the CSE ‘smells’ foul play.
Thursday saw the highest volume at 787,000 of AAIC traded since Softlogic through its subsidiary Softlogic Capital sold at least 1.5 million shares of AAIC at Rs.121 per share on September 20. The buyer was believed to be advertising personality and now major stock market investor Dilith Jayaweera.
After this sale, on September 21, some 214, 500 AAIC shares traded between Rs.180-Rs.202 with 183, 600 shares traded between Rs.190-Rs.202 the next day.
“This share seems to be going through a pump and dump ‘crisis’,” the source said, adding that this is why AAIC has come under the CSE radar.
The Softlogic Group, which recently acquired more than 90% in Asian Alliance Insurance Company (AAIC), will only retain about 70% in the firm in the medium term, according to Softlogic sources.
|
E-mail
