AIM-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd has announced that it is taking legal advice “with regard to…continued and unfounded speculation on various bulletin boards and other social media sites”. That speculation centred on the possibility of GKP conducting a heavily discounted share placing, a possibility the company has denied.
Speculation and comments on retail investor bulletin boards can amount to market abuse under section 118 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; see the guidance in MAR 1.8.6E of the FSA’s Code of Market Abuse.
The only action taken by the FSA against a bulletin board user for market abuse was in 2005.
Comments may also be libellous; see this 2010 Independent article about Nighthawk Energy plc’s threatened legal action against bulletin board posters.
