Exclusive by Patrick Avenell
The Australian Securities Exchange has today explained what prompted them to send a price query notice to Clive Peeters yesterday. Contrary to some media reports, the real reason for this inquiry is just basic economics.
Talking to Current.com.au this morning, ASX Markets Supervision principal adviser Kate Kidson outlined the process that generates a price query. Kidson would know exactly what caused this query to be sent to Clive Peeters, as she herself wrote the letter to the retail group.
“It’s a process whereby surveillance of the enterprise, if the market is not in line with the rest of that sector or out of line with what it would normally be, and would [then] generate a price query.”
When asked if there was any external reason for this price query, such as stories in the media or rumours in the marketplace, Kidson denied that anything like that had been an influence.
“I’m not aware of any publication that prompted the query,” she said.
When told that some media outlets were taking credit for this investigation into Clive Peeters’ share price activity, Kidson dismissed such claims.
“That sort of thing [journalists erroneously taking credit] happens all the time,” said Kidson. “I’m not aware that that was a factor here.”
When asked specifically if Kidson had heard of the publications and journalists claiming credit, she replied “no” on all counts.