(Bloomberg) — Chinese police have found signs that some firms had manipulated the trading of stock-market futures, Xinhua reported, without saying where it got the information.
A team of investigators led by Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Qingfeng is continuing probes after arriving in Shanghai on Friday, the official news agency reported, without providing further details.
The Ministry of Public Security is helping the China Securities Regulatory Commission investigate evidence of malicious short selling of stocks and indexes as the government works to stem a stock plunge that erased almost $4 trillion in market value.
The move comes after the securities regulator pledged to strictly punish market manipulation and Chinas state-run media blamed short selling, rumor-mongering and foreign meddling for fueling the stock slide.
Among other measures to prop up the market, the government has halted initial public offerings and banned major shareholders, corporate executives and directors from selling stakes in listed companies for six months. As of Friday, about 1,365 companies had suspended trading, locking up about $2.4 trillion worth of stock.
