A civil offence under Part VIII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (www.practicallaw.com/A36104) (FSMA).
In order for behaviour to constitute market abuse, broadly, it must:
Occur in relation to qualifying investments (www.practicallaw.com/4-107-7096) admitted (or in respect of which a request has been made for admission) to trading on a prescribed market (www.practicallaw.com/8-107-7037) (or in the case of the market abuse insider dealing and the improper disclosure behaviours only, in relation to investments which are related investments (www.practicallaw.com/1-200-9296) in relation to such qualifying investments).
Fall within any one or more of the seven types of behaviour set out in section 118(2) to 118(8) of FSMA, that is:
insider dealing;
improper disclosure of inside information;
misuse of information;
manipulating transactions;
manipulating devices;
disseminating information likely to give a false or misleading impression;
misleading behaviour or distortion.
For further information see the Code of Market Conduct (www.practicallaw.com/A34687) on the Financial Conduct Authority's (www.practicallaw.com/A36105) website (www.practicallaw.com/T216).
The glossary to the FCA Handbook (www.practicallaw.com/5-107-6609) sets out the full definition of this term. When considering this term in the context of financial services reference should be made to the FCA Handbook glossary definition of market abuse.