PETALING JAYA: Just when the market has picked up steam with trading in stocks hitting high volumes, Bursa Malaysia has detected “pump and dump” activities circulating through the social media. In a circular to the heads of dealing and compliance of stockbroking companies, the stock exchange said it discovered certain groups of market participants using the social media and Internet trading to carry out manipulative activities, which included pump and dump schemes. This, it said, was to facilitate the disposal of the stocks that they had accumulated earlier at higher prices. Bursa said the operators were persuasive in the chatrooms to entice people into buying the stock with the end goal of running up the prices. When the stock price is pumped up due to an increase in trading volume, the operators behind the schemes will sell their stocks before the hype stops.

Source: The Star March 21, 2017 23:19 UTC