A major shareholder sold shares in 'fat-finger' error, making this the third case involving Chinese company in a week

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A major shareholder sold shares in 'fat-finger' error, making this the third case involving Chinese company in a week
BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images
  • Shenzhen Changfang Group said in a security filing a major shareholder sold 16,000 shares by accident on Friday.
  • This is China's third case of fat-finger in one week.
  • The company said shareholder Nie Xianghong acting on behalf of investor Li Dichu picked the wrong ticker.
  • Sany Heavy Industry, and TCL Technology Group also reported fat-finger errors in the week.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
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The fat-finger is to blame again. This time Shenzhen Changfang Group said a shareholder accidentally sold 16,000 shares on Friday, the third such "fat finger" incident involving a Chinese company in a week.

The professional manufacturer of LED lighting products said Nie Xianghong, a shareholder acting on behalf of investor Li Dichu, erroneously sold 16,000 shares on Friday by putting in the wrong ticker, a regulatory filing on Sentieo, a financial-research site showed.

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Filings show after the sale Xianghong held 6.6 million shares.

This follows a trading error by Sany Heavy Industry and Co on Thursday which saw stakeholder Mao Zhongwu offloading 96,700 shares, Bloomberg reported Monday.

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Before that a trader at TCL Technology Group accidentally sold 5 million shares. A security filing Tuesday showed chairman and founder Li Dongsheng had apparently sold the shares and bought them back two hours later at a profit of $21,000.

Shenzhen Changfang Group's share price has surged 158% in the last month from 2.68 ($0.39) yuan to 6.92 yuan ($1.01) as of 7:17 am. ET.

Fat-finger trades are the result of human error in hitting a wrong key on a keyboard. Sometimes, their market impact can be powerful.

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A number of apparent fat-finger trades in quick succession may make it hard to determine if these are intentional or down to human error

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Lv Changshun, an analyst at Beijing Zhonghe Yingtai Management Consultant Co told Bloomberg: "The way I picture this happened was that these executives wanted to test whether it was possible to sell their shares in the open market."

Changshun added: "Call them mistakes, but they were done on purpose. The executives naturally have an urge to take profit."

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