Bangkok, October 28, 2014 - The SEC revealed that the Settlement Committee imposed a fine of 768,925 baht on {A} for manipulating share price of Sahaviriya Steel Industries Plc. (SSI).

With the referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the SEC probed into the case and found that on September 16, 2013, {A} had traded 130.12 million SSI shares by placing a total of 299 trading orders through internet trading system. On that date, the SSI opening price was at 0.37 baht and remained unchanged until {A} started trading. His trading inflated the SSI share price to 0.41 baht, the highest level of the day which was an increase of 10.81% compared with the opening price, or an increase of 0.05 baht or 13.88% compared with the opening price at 0.36 baht on the previous date. After he stopped trading, SSI share price decreased and closed at 0.38 baht.

Furthermore, SSI trading volume on that date was only 0.75 million shares and surged to 335.10 million shares while {A} was trading, 130.12 million shares of which accounted for his trading. It was 87.11% increase in SSI total trading volume. After he stopped trading, SSI trading volume dropped to 48.85 million shares.

His actions caused SSI share trading values and volumes to be inconsistency with normal market condition to mislead and lure the general public into such trading and were therefore in violation of Section 243(2) of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992) (SEA). In this regard, the Settlement Committee imposed a fine of 768,925 on Arnonchai.

Due to his previous offence on share price manipulation, the Settlement Committee considered to settle his current case with harsher punishment.