A sudden halt at the Colombo Stock Exchange has sent shockwaves through investors after unusual trades triggered an emergency suspension and mass cancellation of transactions.
The Colombo Stock Exchange temporarily suspended all trading activities this morning after identifying a batch of transactions executed at unusual prices by Wealthtrust Securities Limited. The move was taken swiftly to safeguard market integrity and prevent potential damage to investor confidence.
According to an official statement, the Colombo Stock Exchange observed that these irregular price movements had the potential to directly affect the purchasing power of investors and distort fair price discovery. In response, trading operations were halted as a precautionary measure to ensure fairness and transparency across the market.
With the concurrence of the Securities and Exchange Commission, authorities decided to cancel all share transactions that were carried out before the suspension of trading earlier today. This decisive action was aimed at neutralizing the impact of the abnormal trades and restoring orderly market conditions.
The stock exchange further confirmed that trading will resume only after all affected transactions are formally canceled and all orders entered into the trading system after 9:00 a.m. have been completely removed. As a result of this system reset, investors and clients have been instructed to re enter their buy and sell orders through the Order Management System.
Market officials emphasized that these steps are necessary to maintain investor protection, uphold regulatory compliance, and reinforce confidence in Sri Lanka’s capital market framework.
