As part of its market monitoring activity reported in its Annual Report published on July 10, the FSA analyzed the scale of share price movements in the two days ahead of regulatory takeover announcements and identified movements that are abnormal compared to a stock’s normal movement.  The FSA published the statistics annually, and going forward, the FCA remains the only regulator that regularly publishes market cleanliness statistics.

After remaining stable for the four years to 2009, the level of abnormal pre-announcement price movements declined to 21.2% in 2010, 19.8% in 2011 and to 14.9% in 2012. This is the lowest level since 2003.  The fall took place in a year of weak takeover activity and against a backdrop of the FSA’s continuing focus on market abuse and enforcement activity in this area.  FCA Report.