CHINESE police have found signs that some firms had manipulated the trading of stock market futures, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday, without giving other details.

    A team of investigators led by Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Qingfeng is continuing probes after arriving in Shanghai on Friday.

    The Ministry of Public Security is helping the China Securities Regulatory Commission investigate evidence of “malicious” short selling of stocks and indexes as the government works to stem a stock plunge that erased almost US$4 trillion in market value in the past two weeks.

    The move comes after the securities regulator pledged to strictly punish market manipulation and China’s State-run media blamed short selling, rumor-mongering and foreign meddling for fueling the stock slide.

    (SD-Agencies)