MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--The Australian Securities Exchange is...

MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--The Australian Securities Exchange is looking into trading in Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. (ALL.AU) in the lead up to Tuesday's profit warning and share placement, a spokesman for the exchange said Wednesday.

"We will conduct our normal review of trading, which we do as a matter of course," the spokesman said.

If questions arise, the ASX usually asks companies to disclose when they were aware of the price sensitive information. If it uncovers suspicious trading, it usually refers matters to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for consideration. ASIC declined to comment, recanting a previous statement that it wasn't investigating the matter.

Aristocrat representatives couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

The company's shares were halted at A$3.98 before management announced it would be raising A$200 million at A$3.25 a share. The slot maker announced the completion of that capital raising Wednesday morning. Aristocrat's shares fell from A$4.19 at the close Friday to A$3.98 at the close Monday, a 5% decline, on average volume for that stock over the past six months. The overall market was down 0.2% that day.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported, without citing sources, that ASIC was looking into an increase in the short-selling of the company's shares the day prior to its capital raising. According to the Australian Stock Exchange Web site, 51% of the company's turnover was traded by short-sellers Monday, which the SMH said was significantly higher than in the previous week.



-By Lyndal McFarland, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2093; [email protected]