SEBI suspends two Pune Stock Exchange brokers

MUMBAI: Market regulator SEBI has suspended the certificate of registration of two brokers of Pune Stock Exchange (PSE) for a period of 15 days for irregular transactions in the scrip of Home Trade Ltd during the period November 1999 to December 2001.

The brokers were P L Pushpa Lakshmi Credit and Capital Pvt Ltd and Trimity Investments and Financial Services Pvt Ltd.

The order shall come into effect on expiry of 21 days from the date of receipt of this order by the broker, Securities and  Exchange Board of India (SEBI) whole time member G Anantharaman said.

The scrip of Home Trade was listed at PSE on November 15, 1999 at Rs 250 and at Bangalore Stock Exchange on November 16, 1999 at Rs 275. The scrip  saw very sharp rise climbing to Rs 315 in two weeks and to Rs 815 by March 31, 2000, SEBI found during investigation.

The broker indulged in circular trading and price manipulation along with some other members of PSE contributing more than 90 per cent of the volume in the scrip of Home Trade, SEBI observed.

The transactions by the broker were not genuine and made only for the purpose of creating artificial price and volume, SEBI further said.