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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 to be the most shorted ASX share after its short interest increased yet again to a lofty 17.55%. This means approximately $1.8 billion is being bet on the lithium miner's shares falling further.
- Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) has a short interest of 15.7%, which is up week on week again. Interestingly, short sellers have continued to build their positions despite China curbing its graphite exports.
- Genesis Minerals Ltd (ASX: GMD) has seen its short interest ease again to 10.6%. Short sellers may have concerns over integration risks from the gold miner's acquisition spree.
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has a short interest of 10.35%, which is down week on week. Short sellers continue to target lithium miners due to falling battery material prices.
- Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) has seen its short interest rise to 10.2%. Traders don't appear to believe this artificial intelligence data services company's poor performance will improve any time soon.
- IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) has 9.8% of its shares held short, which is up week on week. This language testing recently lost its monopoly in Canada. Short sellers may believe the market doesn't appreciate how big a blow this could be.
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 9.2% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Sayona Mining is another lithium miner that short sellers have in their crosshairs.
- Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has 9.05% of its shares held short, which is down week on week. Short sellers continue to close their positions in the travel company. They may believe the worst is now behind it.
- Bank of Queensland Ltd (ASX: BOQ) has a short interest of 8.8%, which is down from last week. This bank has been struggling with weak volume momentum and inflationary pressures on costs.
- Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB) has 8.2% of its shares held short, which is up slightly from last week. Significant cash burn and FDA approval struggles seem to be behind this.
