ASX stocks with the biggest short interest changes – Week 42
Short sellers piled into uranium-related names while a long list of growth and resource oriented names experienced short covering.
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Mentioned
Welcome back to the Short Seller Series – A recap of the most heavily shorted stocks on the ASX and those experiencing significant changes to short interest over the past week.
Short selling data is four days behind today's date because reporting is not mandatory until three business days after the trade. The tables below will compare:
Week-on-week changes between 29 September and 6 October
Month-on-month changes between 8 September and 6 October
Most covered and rising short tables record week-on-week changes of 0.5% or more
Most Shorted
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Boss Energy | 19.10% | 1.83% | -0.95% | |
Pilbara Minerals | 15.59% | -2.34% | -0.63% | |
Idp Education | 12.68% | -0.51% | -1.15% | |
Paladin Energy | 12.33% | 1.03% | -5.33% | |
Iluka Resources | 11.92% | 0.66% | 2.87% | |
Domino's Pizza | 11.48% | -0.49% | 1.42% | |
Mineral Resources | 10.56% | -0.26% | -1.25% | |
PWR Holdings | 10.14% | -0.27% | -0.17% | |
Flight Centre Travel Group | 9.71% | -0.17% | 1.46% | |
Polynovo | 9.64% | -0.26% | -2.40% |
Key takeaways
A slight uptick in short interest for major uranium names. Uranium prices are sitting around US$80/lb, rallying from April lows of ~US$68/lb. Sprott continued purchasing yellowcake, raising its third quarter purchases to 2.3 million pounds, while UK's Yellow Cake raised $125 million for uranium purchases under its agreement with Kazatomprom, the world's top producer. Purchases by physical holding funds commonly trigger rallies in benchmark prices due to thin uranium market liquidity.
Rising Shorts
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Boss Energy | 19.10% | 1.83% | -0.95% | |
Capstone Copper Corp | 2.45% | 1.28% | 1.86% | |
Lotus Resources | 6.36% | 1.21% | -1.88% | |
Paladin Energy | 12.33% | 1.03% | -5.33% | |
DPM Metals Inc | 1.10% | 0.91% | ~ | |
Iluka Resources | 11.92% | 0.66% | 2.87% | |
Bannerman Energy | 3.79% | 0.60% | -0.19% | |
Deep Yellow | 7.94% | 0.60% | -1.55% | |
Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure | 0.60% | 0.56% | 0.34% | |
Inghams Group | 3.81% | 0.51% | 1.40% |
Key takeaways
Boss Energy tops the list for rising week-on-week short interest. The company hasn't provided major updates since its 44% single-day selloff on 28 July, triggered by an unexpected production downgrade due to potential "less continuity of mineralisation and leachability" in its uranium resource.
Most other rising short names are also from the uranium sector, including Lotus (which just achieved production status), Paladin, Bannerman and Deep Yellow.
Capstone Copper is attracting shorts at an interesting time, as copper prices trend higher on supply-related challenges. The company's only recent update was a minor production downgrade on 1 September following a ball mill motor failure. "While disappointing and ill timed, the production downgrade is minor in the broad scheme of things for CSC with a 1% impact to CY25 production and 4% reduction in EBITDA," Macquarie analysts noted. Given the recent spike in copper stocks, next week's data will likely show shorts retreating.
Most Covered
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Genesis Minerals | 0.46% | -4.87% | -4.96% | |
Sandfire Resources | 0.41% | -3.71% | -3.89% | |
Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals | 3.44% | -2.95% | -2.80% | |
Guzman Y GOMEZ | 9.35% | -2.49% | 0.23% | |
Pilbara Minerals | 15.59% | -2.34% | -0.63% | |
Cettire | 2.30% | -1.79% | -8.19% | |
Mesoblast | 5.08% | -1.68% | -0.83% | |
Australian Clinical Labs | 1.63% | -1.63% | -1.13% | |
Magellan Financial Group | 2.65% | -1.60% | -1.31% | |
Bank of Queensland | 0.93% | -1.60% | -1.92% | |
Opthea | 0.61% | -1.32% | -1.32% | |
Seek | 0.54% | -1.28% | -1.28% | |
JB Hi-Fi | 2.59% | -1.18% | -1.85% | |
Clarity Pharmaceuticals | 5.29% | -1.16% | -1.66% | |
HUB24 | 0.44% | -1.16% | -0.97% | |
Evolution Mining | 0.37% | -1.14% | -1.84% | |
Ramelius Resources | 3.29% | -1.08% | 1.56% | |
Westgold Resources | 2.10% | -1.08% | -1.21% | |
Monash Ivf Group | 2.97% | -1.04% | -4.41% | |
MAC Copper | 0.75% | -1.00% | -0.80% | |
Pro Medicus | 0.44% | -0.96% | -1.36% | |
Metcash | 1.40% | -0.95% | -0.82% | |
Healius | 2.60% | -0.95% | -1.78% | |
Netwealth Group | 0.38% | -0.88% | -1.09% | |
Maas Group Holdings | 2.13% | -0.88% | -0.95% | |
Rural Funds Group | 3.80% | -0.81% | -0.69% | |
Bravura Solutions | 1.90% | -0.81% | -1.02% | |
Lynas Rare EARTHS | 1.73% | -0.81% | -1.32% | |
Centuria Industrial REIT | 2.68% | -0.80% | 0.55% | |
Emerald Resources NL | 1.50% | -0.79% | -2.36% | |
Beach Energy | 2.91% | -0.78% | -0.92% | |
Immutep | 1.86% | -0.76% | -0.45% | |
Select Harvests | 1.78% | -0.76% | -0.54% | |
Technology One | 0.56% | -0.73% | -0.65% | |
Bellevue Gold | 2.65% | -0.72% | -4.29% | |
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank | 1.26% | -0.71% | -0.64% | |
Light & Wonder Inc | 2.99% | -0.66% | 0.55% | |
Lifestyle Communities | 7.08% | -0.63% | -2.33% | |
Siteminder | 0.72% | -0.61% | -1.69% | |
Fineos Corporation Holdings Plc | 0.13% | -0.60% | -0.60% | |
Nick Scali | 4.48% | -0.60% | -0.75% | |
Nickel Industries | 1.17% | -0.59% | -0.71% | |
Data#3 | 1.95% | -0.59% | -0.23% | |
Wisetech Global | 1.58% | -0.57% | 0.10% | |
Audinate Group | 4.53% | -0.56% | -0.13% | |
Ora Banda Mining | 3.56% | -0.56% | 1.83% | |
Pinnacle Investment Management Group | 1.55% | -0.55% | -0.62% | |
Fortescue | 1.28% | -0.55% | -0.86% | |
MA Financial Group | 1.11% | -0.54% | -0.06% | |
Idp Education | 12.68% | -0.51% | -1.15% | |
Sigma Healthcare | 1.87% | -0.50% | -0.18% |
Key takeaways
A massive list of stocks experienced declining short interest. Key drivers for the potential short covering include the Small Ords rallying 4.3% between 25 September and 3 October, and the ASX Emerging Companies Index surging 14.6% between 10 September and 6 October (up 18 of 19 sessions). This strength in growth-oriented and risk-on segments of the market likely drove bearish bets out.
Resource names dominate the declining short interest list. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index rallied 9.3% between 19 September and 6 October, largely driven by copper, gold and rare earth miners rather than iron ore. Even battered sectors like lithium, coal and nickel showed signs of bottoming, squeezing shorts out of positions. Genesis Minerals, Sandfire and Pilbara Minerals saw sizeable declines in short interest.
