SEBI orders probe into ASM list leak

SEBI on Wednesday said it had ordered an inquiry into the alleged leak on May 31 of a list of stocks ahead of their being placed under Additional Surveillance Measures (ASM).

The regulator ordered the probe following a BusinessLine report on Tuesday that operators in Mumbai and Gujarat may have had access to the list ahead of its official release on May 31 and that they used the information to profit from it by short-selling the stocks on the list.

“It has been reported in a section of the press that a list of stocks, which were to be subjected to Additional Surveillance Measures, was leaked prior to its announcement by stock exchanges on May 31. SEBI has taken note of the same and has ordered an inquiry into the matter,” a release issued by SEBI on Wednesday said.

BusinessLine had reported that the share price of more than a dozen stocks, including top-traded group ‘A’ counters, which were part of the list, fell sharply before it was announced they were being put in the ASM category.

According to sources, the list was put up on exchange websites only after the close of market hours on May 31.

Even so, the price of the stocks on the list declined sharply during the May 31 trading session, that is, before the list was made public.