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At the start of each week, I like to look at ASIC's short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.
This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn't quite right with a company.
With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:
- Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) continues as the most shorted share on the Australian share market with a short interest of 11.8%. This is up week on week again. Short sellers appear to be betting on lithium prices continuing to tumble.
- Genesis Minerals Ltd (ASX: GMD) has seen its short interest increase to 9.9%. Short sellers seem to believe the market is too optimistic on the gold miner's recent acquisitions.
- Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has 9.5% of its shares held short, which is flat week on week. Revenue margin headwinds have been a key reason why short sellers are targeting the travel agent.
- Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) has short interest of 8.65%, which is up sharply week on week. Short sellers may believe that Syrah is going to struggle with weak graphite producers for some time.
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has a short interest of 8.6%, which is up strongly week on week. Short sellers will have been disappointed to see this lithium miner's shares jump 20% on Friday after reporting its maiden profit.
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 8.4% of its shares held short, which is a big increase week on week. Weak lithium prices appear to be behind this.
- IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) has 8.3% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Short sellers appear to believe this language testing and student placement company could underperform after losing its Canadian monopoly.
- Select Harvests Ltd (ASX: SHV) has seen its short interest rise again to 8.1%. Tough trading conditions have been weighing heavily on this almond producer's performance.
- Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD) has seen its short interest fall again to 8%. This agribusiness company has been struggling with tough trading conditions this year.
- Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB) has a short interest of 7.6%, which is up again. Short sellers have been loading up on the stem cell-focused biotech company's shares since the US FDA dealt it yet another blow.
