Mass. regulator asks Fidelity to buy back auction-rate debt

BOSTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Massachusetts' top securities regulator asked Fidelity Investments on Tuesday to repurchase auction-rate securities that it sold to customers, urging the mutual fund giant to assist clients now stuck with these frozen securities.

"It is my hope that Fidelity will follow the industry trend and promptly repurchase these securities that it has sold to its customers, many of whom now find themselves unable to access money that they thought was as liquid as cash," William Galvin, the state's chief securities regulator, wrote to Fidelity's chairman, Edward Johnson III. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by Phil Berlowitz)