By Mark Reynolds
Officials at the New Zealand Stock Exchange were last night looking at recent trading patterns in three listed companies, after the Business Herald pointed out coincidental rises in share prices ahead of announcements.
On Monday, shares in Aquaria 21 surged nearly 10 per cent amid speculation that a group of investors including entrepreneur Eric Watson had an option to acquire further shares in the company.
The official announcement was not made until yesterday, when the shares fell back 5.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, shares in Advantage Group and Hellaby Holdings each rose more than 4 per cent yesterday - a day on which the overall market weakened 1 per cent.
Both companies are scheduled to announce additions to their businesses today. Share trading in all three companies has been volatile in recent weeks, and the Hellaby movement was on low volume.
But the Business Herald brought the price movements to the stock exchange's attention because some sectors of the market appeared aware that announcements were pending, while the market as a whole was not.
In the case of Hellaby and Advantage, the Business Herald had been informed under a media embargo that announcements would be made by the companies. Those embargoes were not broken.
Philippe Leloir, legal and surveillance officer for the stock exchange, said the exchange had not looked at any of the situations before being called by the Business Herald.. "It may be that some of this needs to be looked at," Mr Leloir said.
The exchange's market information staff monitor share price movements for possible anomalies, and Mr Leloir said he had not been informed of any trigger levels being activated.
"No one has referred any situations to me."
The New Zealand Stock Exchange's Market Surveillance Panel contended in its annual report last week that sharemarket investors are kept well informed by listed companies.
Companies are not required to release their confidential information in cases of unauthorised release or speculation alone.
Panel chairman Denis Thom said there was generally "a high level of compliance with the Listing Rules by Listed Companies, which among other things results in a timely flow of information to the market."
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