why, page-14

I think there are several possibilities.
1. SP was concerned that the sp was rising too quickly when he knew he would have report an increase in the probability of a recoverable downgrade.
2. He wanted to get the above bad news out before the half year report on 29th August which may yet cheer us up.
3. He knew ROC intended to include some bad news and thought it would be bad if not pre-empted.

The reaction was a bit over the top and should be of little concern to long term investors.