Australian authorities quiz Zimplats

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) recently queried Zimplats' curious 66 percent share price leap from A$3,60(US$2,76) to A$6(US$4,60) in a seven-day period to August 10, 2016, as investors cheered recovering platinum prices and the mine's recent performance.

Though the ASX's inquiry is procedural, as listing regulations require companies to explain suspicious share price movements, it underscores how foreign investors are benefitting through betting on the platinum producer's activities.

On August 10, Lux Wigneswaran, ASX's principal advisor (Listings Compliance), wrote to Zimplats' investor relations manager Kathrine Brown seeking an explanation over the company's share price movement.

ASX's intervention is meant to safeguard investors from being prejudiced through insider trading, where a few investors benefit through accessing a company's privileged information that can materially impact on the share price.

However, Zimplats chief executive officer Alex Mhembere surmised that the share price could have jumped as a result of improved platinum prices on the international market and a 282 percent increase in net profit in the quarter ended June 30, 2016.