The London Stock Exchange and U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority are talking separately to brokers and dealers about this month's options and futures expiration auction. The spike, first reported by Derivatives Week (6/17), saw the FTSE100 expiry fix nearly 50 points above the index's high point on June 17. Catherine Mattison, LSE spokeswoman, confirmed it is talking to customers about the expiry. "We will be talking about whether there are any lessons to be learned from this," she added. David Cliff, spokesman for the FSA, said the regulator is also looking into the expiry auction, declining comment on any timeframe or detail of the investigation.
Although it could not be determined whether any broker or dealer had profited from the trades, one dealer said, "There must have been some losses out there as there is a lot of bad feeling about this." He added, "There are still dark mutterings going 'round the market."
