Yesterday Japans Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) announced that a fine of $1.2 million had been recommended against the British unit of Citigroup Inc (C) for manipulating prices of 10-year Japanese government bond futures.
Citigroup shares closed higher for the eighth time in the past thirteen trading sessions in New York on Tuesday. It has also been the sharpest daily surge since March 15th. The stock went up 1.48% ($0.89) to $61.22, after touching an intraday high at $61.31 and an intraday low at $60.53.
Shares of Citigroup Inc have risen 17.60% so far in 2019 compared with a 12.43% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).
In 2018, Citigroup’s stock went down 30.04%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.
According to the SESC, an employee of Citigroup Global Markets Limited, headquartered in the UK, made buy and sell orders for 10-year Japanese government bond futures without executing them. As a result, the Commission recommended a fine of JPY 133 million.
The SESC itself is not empowered to impose fines on market participants, as the authority to do so is given to Japans Financial Services Agency.
“Citi will place the utmost priority on further enhancing governance and internal control to comply with the financial regulations and directives,” the group said in a statement, in response to the recommendation by SESC.
According to CNN Money, the 25 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Citigroup Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $76.00, with a high estimate of $99.00 and a low estimate of $51.00. The median estimate represents a 24.14% upside compared to the closing price of $61.22 on March 26th.
The same media also reported that 19 out of 29 surveyed investment analysts had rated Citigroup Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 5 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.
Weekly Pivot Levels
By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Citigroup Inc (C) are presented as follows:
Central Pivot Point – $62.75
R1 – $65.06
R2 – $69.13
R3 – $71.44
R4 – $73.74
S1 – $58.68
S2 – $56.37
S3 – $52.30
S4 – $48.22
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