The Securities and Exchange Board of India has sought data on trading pattern in public sector stocks like IBP and IPCL to analyse the presence of any price hammering in the stocks that the government is selling.

"The regulator has been closely watching the stock movements and seeks information when prices move up and down," Sebi sources said on Wednesday.

This is a part of normal market monitoring mechanism, they said.

A BSE official said the market has been volatile for the last few days and SEBI and the exchanges work together to examine occurrence of any price manipulation.

Concerned over the lukewarm response to public issues of IBP and some other companies, Union

Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said on Wednesday in Delhi that the government had identified people responsible for pulling down stock prices.

The government has fixed responsibility on financial advisors to motivate and inform the public on the offerings, he said.