Hong Kong broker Sun Hung Kai Financial made a costly mistake yesterday, buying millions of China Life Insurance shares as a result of what it said was an error in its computer system.
Traders said the broker placed a buy order worth more than HK$37 billion for 2 billion shares for China Life at HK$18.82 about half an hour before the close of the stock market.
They estimated the firm ended up buying 80 million shares, spending more than HK$1.5 billion on the stock.
'We thought something was wrong when we saw such a large bid coming in,' said a trader at an international bank who did not want to be named.
'They [Sun Hung Kai Financial] quickly withdrew the bid and tried to sell some of the shares back to the market but it wasn't very successful because the share prices have been depressed.'
Within minutes of the broker's bid, China Life surged to HK$18.94 before falling to close at HK$18.62.