Friday, December 21, 2007

At last Sebi opens up short-selling; institutions’ long wait ends

After a long wait, institutional investors will be able to short-sell shares in the stock market. Market regulator Sebi today decided to permit all classes of investors — including retail investors, FIs, FIIs and mutual funds — to short-sell in the market. Hitherto, only retail investors were allowed to short-sell, which means selling a stock which the seller does not own at the time of trade.

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In order to provide a mechanism for borrowing of securities to enable settlement of securities sold short, Sebi has also decided to put in place a full-fledged securities lending and borrowing (SLB) scheme for all market participants in the securities market. “The stock exchanges and the depositories have been advised to issue the necessary guidelines and put necessary systems in place to operationalise the mechanisms for short-selling and SLB. The date of implementation of this circular will be communicated by Sebi subsequently,” the watchdog said in a circular.

“The stock exchanges will also ensure that all appropriate trading and settlement practices as well as surveillance and risk containment measures are made applicable and implemented in this regard,” it added. Dealers welcomed the latest Sebi initiative after the regulator banned short sales in 2001 in the wake of the stock scam. “It was long overdue. It will add to the liquidity and depth of the market. Investors will be able to borrow shares and short-sell,” said BSE dealer Pawan Dharnidharka.

However, Sebi made it clear that “naked” short-selling will not be permitted in the market and, accordingly, all investors would be required to mandatorily honour their obligation of delivering the securities at the time of settlement. It further said no institutional investor will be allowed to do day trading ie, square-off their transactions intra-day. In other words, all transactions would be grossed for institutional investors at the custodians’ level and the institutions would be required to fulfill their obligations on a gross basis.

The securities traded in F&O segment will be eligible for short-selling. Sebi may review the list of stocks that are eligible for short-selling transactions from time to time. The institutional investors should disclose upfront at the time of placement of order whether the transaction is a short sale. However, retail investors would be permitted to make a similar disclosure by the end of the trading hours on the transaction day.

According to the Sebi, brokers will be mandated to collect the details on scrip-wise short-sell positions, collate the data and upload it to the stock exchanges before the commencement of trading on the following trading day. The stock exchanges shall then consolidate such information and disseminate the same on their websites for the information of the public on a weekly basis.

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