KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd and Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) were the top-three short-selling targets in terms of value last week, according to CGS-CIMB in a research note yesterday (Aug 23).

The local research house said the average daily trading value of regulated short selling (RSS) fell 14% week-on-week (w-o-w) to RM14.8 million last week from RM17.3 million reported two weeks ago. 

“The companies that dominated the top net short positions as at Aug 20, 2021 were Supermax, Top Glove [Corp Bhd], Kossan, Hartalega [Holdings Bhd] and Jaks Resources [Bhd].

“The total net short positions of Supermax, Kossan and Jaks rose w-o-w, while the net short position for Top Glove fell w-o-w.

“The net short position for Supermax rose marginally from 2.54% as at Aug 13, 2021 to 2.55% as at Aug 20, 2021, while the net short position of Kossan rose from 1.45% as at Aug 13, 2021 to 1.55% as at Aug 20, 2021,” it said.

To recap, CGS-CIMB said the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bursa Malaysia lifted the temporary suspension of RSS on Jan 1, 2021.

However, the reintroduction came with enhanced control measures, which included a temporary reduction of the daily gross short position limit for approved securities (from 3% to 2%) and the introduction of a new cap of 4% on RSS aggregated net short positions, it added.

Meanwhile, the temporary suspension of intraday short selling and intraday short selling by proprietary day traders (PDT short sale) has been extended to Aug 29, 2021 (from Feb 28, 2021).

At the time of writing, shares in Kossan rose three sen or 0.98% to RM3.09, while shares in Supermax traded one sen or 0.33% higher to RM3.06. 

Meanwhile, shares in F&N rose 38 sen or 1.42% to RM27.12.  

Since the beginning of the year, Kossan has dropped by 20% while Supermax declined by 44.46%. F&N fell by 15.01% from early January this year.