CHINA’S securities regulator is investigating a star analyst at CITIC Securities Co., the country’s largest brokerage, for suspected release of insider information, the latest in its efforts to tighten supervision of illegal trading activities.

    Domestic media reported that Zhang Mingfang, a highly regarded analyst with CITIC Securities, allegedly posted information about Livzon Pharmaceutical Group Inc., a Shenzhen-listed pharmaceutical producer, to a private messaging group, revealing management’s equity incentive plans, which subsequently impacted the firm’s share price.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission confirmed at a routine briefing Friday that it is investigating Zhang, without providing details.

    CITIC Securities, which lists shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong, said Zhang has been suspended from her post and she is under investigation.

    Zhang, who was voted last year’s top analyst in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors by fund managers in a prominent securities industry poll, allegedly disclosed the sensitive information June 6 to fund managers and other clients using WeChat, a popular mobile messaging service, domestic media reported. That same day, Livzon Pharmaceutical’s share price rose 2.81 percent.

    On June 9, Livzon Pharmaceutical issued a statement, saying it was planning to offer stock incentives and requested that trading of its shares be suspended.

    Three days later, the company said it would postpone the scheme because “certain conditions aren’t ripe.” It didn’t elaborate. The next day, Livzon Pharmaceutical said board secretary Li Rucai had resigned due to unspecified personal reasons.

    In recent years, China has been stepping up its crackdown against illegal trading activities and tightening supervision against fund managers, brokerages, consultants and executives of listed companies in a bid to build confidence in a stock market where illegal trading activities have been rampant.

    In 2011, former stock analyst Wang Jianzhong was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 125 million yuan (US$20.13 million), on top of having illicit earnings of the same amount confiscated, becoming China’s first convicted stock market manipulator. (SD-Agencies)