Online stockbroker E*Trade Japan K.K. has been warned by the Tokyo Stock Exchange over accepting orders suspected of being aimed at manipulating stock prices, it was revealed Friday.
The warning, issued in November last year, cites a flaw in the computer system used by E*Trade Japan to receive trading orders, according to informed sources. The reprimand also cites the inappropriate nature of the firm's law-compliance system, they said.
Over a short period of time in around July 2001, an E*Trade Japan client used the firm's Internet trading system to place several bids for the stock of a TSE-listed firm at prices well above those of the market, the sources said.
The orders are believed to have been aimed at manipulating stock prices, a practice banned under the Securities and Exchange Law.