MF Global

ASIC Lifts Ban on Covered Short Selling*

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), announced that the current ban on covered short selling of Australian listed, non-financial securities be lifted effective, Wednesday 19 November, 2008.

Closing of Existing Long CFD Positions

When trading in CFDs over ASX listed securities, please note that it will no longer be possible to go from "long" to "short" in one transaction in the same underlying security. You must first close out your long CFD position, and then separately establish a short CFD position via a new order.

Closing of Existing Short CFD Positions

When trading in CFDs over ASX listed securities, please note that it will no longer be possible to go from "short" to "long" in one transaction in the same underlying security. You must first close out your short CFD position, and then separately establish a long CFD position via a new order.

Click here for a list of shortable CFDs.
Click here for a list of restricted shortable CFDs.

*ASIC will continue the ban on covered short sales in relation to "financial securities" – that is securities of companies comprising the S&P/ASX 200 Financials (including property trusts) plus WES.AX, ROK.AX, WBB.AX, FCL.AX, and CIX.AX securities until at least 27 January 2009.

History

On Monday, 22 September 2008, the Australian Securities Exchange Limited (ASX) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced a package of interim measures related to the banning of short selling. ASIC announced that from the opening of the market that day both naked and covered short sales were not permitted for a period of thirty (30) days, at which time they would reassess their stance on short selling for non-financial stocks. The ASIC announcement can be read here.

On Tuesday, 21 October 2008, ASIC announced an extension to the ban on covered short-selling for non-financial securities for a further twenty-eight (28) days, until Tuesday, 18th November 2008. The ban on financial stocks will continue until Tuesday, 27th January 2009.

MF Global continues to offer short-selling over most Asian markets. There is still a temporary ban on short selling financial and insurance stocks in the UK, whilst the ban on US stocks has been lifted for covered selling. If you would like more information on short selling, please call our friendly sales team on 1800 626 099 or email them at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .


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