Sebi seeks data on share sales

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has asked the National Stock Exchange to provide data on the sale of shares executed by the National Securities Clearing Corporation Ltd on Monday.

The regulator suspects that securities of about Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) may have been unloaded by the exchange in the first few hours of trading.

"Though the exchanges should have the discretion to sell shares based on rules as per their risk containment measure, it is important for us to know when exactly this sale happened and whether this could have triggered the free fall in the markets yesterday," a Sebi source said.

The capital market regulator had called for a surveillance meeting with exchanges today to take stock of the situation. After yesterday's dramatic fall, there were concerns that exchanges could be facing a payment crisis.

But in today's meeting, exchanges said that they did not expect any major payment crisis brewing.

"Even if there is a shortfall, it would be minor, and could be easily handled by the exchanges," the source said.

"While it is important to recognise that exchanges cannot afford to assume any market risk and have to go by the rules to protect themselves, selling in a distress market can lead to unwarranted fall," pointed out a market source.

Especially, when shares are sold at a time when there are no buyers in the market, the fall can be exaggerated. "We are seeking data only to analyse yesterday's situation," the source said.