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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) is still the most shorted ASX share with short interest of 20.6%, which is up slightly week on week. Short sellers continue to target the lithium miner due to weak battery materials prices.
- Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) has short interest of 18.5%, which is up week on week again. Weak graphite prices have weighed heavily on its operations and balance sheet.
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has short interest of 12.7%, which is down slightly week on week. This lithium miner's shares are down over 80% since this time last year, much to the delight of short sellers.
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 11.7% of its shares held short, which is up week on week again. Short sellers have been loading up on this lithium miner's shares after it revealed costs that were significantly higher than the price it was receiving for its product.
- IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) has 9.9% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Short sellers appear to be betting that the loss of its monopoly in Canada and student visa changes will mean IDP Education underperforms expectations.
- Deep Yellow Limited (ASX: DYL) has seen its short interest rise to 9.3%. Short sellers don't appear to believe that uranium prices will remain as strong as the market expects.
- Genesis Minerals Ltd (ASX: GMD) has seen its short interest rise to 9.3%. This seems to be because of concerns over integration risks from recent acquisitions.
- Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN) has short interest of 9.1%, which is up strongly week on week. Short sellers appear to believe that capital raisings will be required in the near term.
- Weebit Nano Ltd (ASX: WBT) has short interest of 8.7%, which is up week on week again. This semiconductor company recently reported quarterly revenue of less than $0.5 million. It ended last week with a market capitalisation of $700 million.
- Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has 8.4% of its shares held short, which is flat week on week. Short sellers may believe the market is too optimistic on the travel agent's growth and revenue margin assumptions.
