PETALING JAYA: The review of stocks in the list of regulated short selling (RSS) approved securities will temporarily be postponed until further notice, said Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd.

Yesterday, Bursa Malaysia announced that the list of RSS approved securities will be updated after the temporary suspension of short selling frameworks has been lifted.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of research Vincent Lau opined that the postponement of the review of RSS approved securities is a positive move for the market, given the uncertainty and challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic brings.

“With no short selling, this will stabilise the market.

“It will be a good time to resume short selling activities after the market is stabilised and recovered, and when sentiments are better, ” he said.

Recall that the Securities Commission (SC) and Bursa Malaysia had extended the temporary suspension of short selling from April 30 to June 30,2020.

This comprises the suspension of intraday short selling and RSS, as well as intraday short selling by proprietary day traders.

The move comes as part of a slew of proactive measures to mitigate potential risks arising from heightened volatility and global uncertainties as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of November 29,2019, there are 215 companies on the RSS approved securities list.

The SC and Bursa Malaysia had said that the temporary suspension of short selling remains a short-term measure to provide stability and confidence in the Malaysian capital market.

Both the SC and Bursa Malaysia will continue to monitor developments affecting the securities market and evaluate the adequacy of existing measures to support an orderly market and to mitigate potential risks.

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/06/03/review-of-regulated-short-selling-stocks-postponed