NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today said it has asked all stock exchanges in the country to be on the alert as share prices continued to climb dizzy heights across bourses."We are constantly monitoring the situation and have advised all stock exchanges to be on the alert to avoid any crisis," Sebi chairman D R Mehta said. The country's bourses are on a bull-run with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index nearing 5000-mark in the morning session today."The markets are safe and we are fully geared up to face any crisis," he said when asked whether the stock markets were faced with an impending crisis at these record index levels.Stating that all major stock exchanges have put in place `Stock watch systems' to monitor positions of brokers on a real-time basis, Mehta said Sebi has also asked the exchanges to impose additional margins, if the situation warrants.Currently, exchanges impose additional volatility margins and mark-to-market margins, whereby exchanges fixes margins on actively fluctuating scrips every day. Scrips that fluctuate eight per cent from the previous days's closing rate invite volatility margins of 20 per cent and trading is not allowed at prices beyond the eight per cent limit upwards or downwards on a trading session.Mehta said `stock watch system' has been installed by the NSE, BSE, Calcutta, Delhi and Ahmedabad exchanges. Mehta said the National stock exchange (NSE) has imposed additional margins over the existing set of margins while BSE was working on additional margins.Asked about the rumours that flooded the stock market last week sending the stock prices on a roller coaster, Mehta said the market regulator was helpless in checking rumours."I don't think any regulator across the world could check rumours. However, we have asked stock exchanges to act as a self-regulating organisations (SROs) and not to wait for Sebi to come out with certain instructions from time to time for taking actions against members for share price manipulation."Last week, Sebi had suspended two BSE brokers and one NSE member for their alleged involvement in share price rigging of the scrips of BPL, Videocon and Sterlite after the regulator conducted an enquiry in the wake of the sudden payment crisis on the BSE in June last year.Mehta, however, refused to be drawn into the controversy on insider trading allegations levelled against executive director of BSE in selecting scrips for induction into the group A category last week.The selection was done by an index committee of the exchange comprising four public representatives including a former high court judge and four brokers of the exchange."Stock exchanges should be responsible and their credibility will decide their long-term survival," Mehta said, adding that the regulator would certainly act tough, if any manipulation comes to its notice.
