CHINESE officials announced yesterday that a top investment fund manager has been arrested for alleged insider trading and price manipulation.

Zexi Investment manager Xu Xiang is suspected of illegally obtaining inside information about the stock market and manipulating prices, the Public Security Ministry said.

His detention follows a massive decline in share prices in the summer, which financial authorities blamed on speculators inflating a stock market bubble.

In response to the crash, the government suspended trading in many companies, restricted the use of borrowed money for some trades and banned big investors from selling their shareholdings for six months.

Mr Xu’s Shanghai-based Zexi Investment hedge fund managed to prosper despite the sell-off, along with a small group of other investment firms.

The Xinhua news agency said Mr Xu and several other unnamed individuals had been placed under “coercive measures” over recent days.