SINGAPORE - Market players who engage in window-dressing - a common practice in which stocks are bought at higher prices to pad the performance of a portfolio - could run the risk of breaking the rules. Window-dressing falls under what the Singapore Exchange (SGX) calls 'marking the close' - in which there is buying or selling at the close of the market to alter the closing price, a securities regulator from SGX told traders and other market professionals yesterday. And 'marking the close' is considered a form of manipulative trading, said Neo Hwee Kuan, assistant vice-president of the enforcement section of SGX's risk management and regulation group. 'A common indicator is trading in small parcels of the security just before the market closes,' Ms Neo said. 'Clients who declined to pay a lower price during the day but pay a higher price at the close should be queried.' She was speaking at a seminar - 'Securities Trading: Avoiding Pitfalls' - organised by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to remind broking houses and traders to trade within the law.
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