SEBI Bars JPMorgan's Copthall and Mansi Over Alleged Sensex Manipulation
SEBI has barred JPMorgan's Copthall Mauritius Investment and Mansi Share and Stock Broking Pvt Ltd from accessing the securities market in India. The move follows allegations of manipulation of the Sensex closing price during a Closing Auction Session (CAS) on August 13.
The regulator's surveillance systems flagged three sharp spikes in the Sensex's Indicative Equilibrium Price (IEP), with Copthall accounting for 99.91% of buy-order value in one spike and Mansi placing aggressive sell orders aggregating about 12.65 lakh shares across eight Sensex constituents.
The total wrongful gains estimated by SEBI are ₹3.68 crore, with ₹2.96 crore attributed to Copthall and ₹71.65 lakh to Mansi. The two entities have been prohibited from participating in the equity-segment CAS and have 21 days to respond as the SEBI probe continues.
The rapid enforcement by SEBI signals heightened scrutiny of concentrated institutional activity around weekly expiries and the new CAS mechanism, leaving market participants more exposed to risk on future expiry days.