A computer error at China Everbright Securities has been blamed for a flash rally in China's equity market on Friday.
On Friday morning the Shanghai Composite index surged nearly six per cent in seconds for no apparent reason. The index closed down 0.6%.
It soon emerged that the rise was caused by State-controlled Everbright, which placed 23.4 billion yuan of erroneous buy orders.
Although speculation initially focussed on a possible 'fat finger' trade, regulators have now blamed a glitch with the brokerage's automated trading system.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has launched an investigation and hit Everbright with a three month proprietary trading ban.