Price Queries and the Enforcement of Australia’s Continuous Disclosure Regime

Abstract

A crucial element of market regulation in Australia geared towards achieving and maintaining market integrity is the obligation of listed and other disclosing entities to continuously disclose material information to the market: ASX Listing Rule 3.1. ASX Compliance (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASX Ltd) fulfils the ASX’s market oversight obligations by monitoring and enforcing compliance with the market’s operating rules. If concerned that less than transparent behaviour may have been responsible for unusual movement in a company’s share price or trading volumes, the ASX may issue a query to the company concerned. Details of the response and the query sent by the ASX are then made available through the announcements platform on the ASX website. This paper represents an initial investigation into this element of the practical reality of enforcement of the continuous disclosure regime. It analyses company responses to ASX price queries with a view to gaining a deeper understanding of the explanations provided by listed entities and the frontline of ASX enforcement activity surrounding the regime.

Keywords: market integrity, ASX, continuous disclosure, price queries

JEL Classification: M40, M41