FILE PHOTO: A journalist walks past an electronic board of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the Korea Exchange (KRX) in Seoul, South Korea, January 20, 2016 REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) - The Korea Exchange (KRX) said on Tuesday it has imposed a 175 million won ($148,655) fine on Bank of America Merrill Lynch's BAC.N South Korean unit for irregular trading activities.

The investment bank’s algorithmic trading operations placed 6,220 false orders from October 2017 to May 2018, the bourse said in a statement in Korean. Such practice may have encouraged other market participants to follow suit and buy those assets, boosting their prices, the bourse said.

A Hong Kong-based spokesman for Bank of America Merrill Lynch declined to comment.