See Guide further below (for readers with full access).
Summary:
Week ending August 27, 2020
Last week marked the last week of results season bar a couple of days, and by week’s end the ASX200 was still bouncing around each day on results while not actually going anywhere.
Last week chook farmer Inghams Group ((ING)) reported and, despite a miss of forecasts, the market had feared worse so the stock rallied on the day.
Inghams had been hanging around in the 10%-plus shorted club almost consistently since the drought began to have its impact, let alone the virus. Initially it was an issue of soaring chook feed prices, and then a matter of no restaurants to sell to. But last week Inghams shorts dropped to 7.9% from 10.3%.
Short covering was clearly in play.
The only other stock to see a short position change of one percentage point or more last week was rare earths miner Lynas Corp ((LYC)), which the week before announced a sizeable capital raising with its result. This opens up a chance to short the stock and pick up discounted shares in the raising – a form of “risk arbitrage”.
Last week Lynas dropped off the 5%-plus shorted table from 6.5%, suggesting arbitrage closed.
Beyond that we note it’s getting even thinner at the top post result season, while remaining relatively consistent towards the bottom in terms of number of stocks. Last week saw four stocks come into the bottom of the table for only one dropping out, but all four are familiar names for the short table.
No Movers & Shakers this week.
Weekly short positions as a percentage of market cap:
10%+
WEB 15.0
MYR 11.3
Out: ING
9.0-9.9
IVC, ORE
In: ORE
8.0-8.9%
No stocks
Out: NEA, ORE
7.0-7.9%
ING, CUV, CTD, NEA, BOQ
In: ING, NEA Out: GXY
6.0-6.9%
FNP, Z1P, GXY, PNV, BIN, MTS, SGM, JBH
In: GXY, PNV, JBH Out: FXL, LYC, MSB
5.0-5.9%
MSB, FLT, FXL, CLH, SUL, AVH, A2M, IFL, ALG, SEK, LOV, PGH, BUB, AMA, NEC, CLQ
In: MSB, FXL , A2M, AMA, NEC, CLQ Out: JBH, PNV, BEN
Movers & Shakers
See above
ASX20 Short Positions (%)
| Code | Last Week | Week Before | Code | Last Week | Week Before |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALL | 4.1 | 4.1 | NCM | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| ANZ | 0.8 | 1.0 | RIO | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| BHP | 4.3 | 4.2 | SCG | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| BXB | 0.2 | 0.2 | SUN | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| CBA | 0.6 | 0.5 | TCL | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| CSL | 0.3 | 0.3 | TLS | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| GMG | 0.7 | 0.5 | WBC | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| IAG | 0.9 | 0.8 | WES | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| MQG | 0.3 | 0.3 | WOW | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| NAB | 1.0 | 0.9 | WPL | 1.2 | 1.2 |
To see the full Short Report, please go to this link
