The corporate regulator has alleged that Nuix directors must have known the market did not believe the Macquarie-backed software company would hit its prospectus forecasts because shares continued to fall despite persistent claims it would hit its targets.

In his closing arguments for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Tuesday, Jeremy Giles, SC, said evidence given by the company’s former chairman, Jeffrey Bleich, showed the board believed reaffirming forecasts was material “and that could hardly have been in doubt after the market reaction on the 26th of February”.