Reference no: EM13888624

Capital Technologies Ltd (CT Ltd) is an electrical engineering company. It is listed on the ASX. Its research department has developed a new type of battery. The research is presented to a Board meeting on 1 July. It is agreed that a public announcement about the battery will be made on 15 July. On 2 July, Don Trump, a director of CT Ltd, telephones his stock broker and buys 10 000 shares in CT Ltd from Sean Young at the current market price of $ 2.00 each. That same night, he tells his friend Gordon Gecko, who he knows is a regular trader in shares, about the new battery but Gecko does not act on the information. Upon the public announcement of the news about the battery, the price of shares in CT Ltd climbs to $ 22.00 each. A few weeks later, another shareholder, Sam Speed, who is an amateur scientist, reads an article in the latest issue of the International Journal of Chemistry which is available in his local library which says that an acid which Sam recognizes is one used in the batteries made by CT Ltd, is unstable. He sells his shares to Frank Jones for $ 22.00 each. Subsequently, when news reaches the market that customers of CT Ltd are complaining that the batteries have stopped working due to the unstable acid, the price of shares in CT Ltd falls to $ 15.00 each. Advise as to the liabilities arising from these facts, citing relevant legal authority.