No evidence of naked short selling in Thai stock market, says ASCO

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the Association of Securities Companies (ASCO) confirmed that there is no occurrence of naked short selling within the Thai exchange. This comes amidst the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request for ASCO members to align their short-sell guidelines with those of the SEC.

Pichet Sithi-Amnuai, ASCO president, revealed that regular inspections of short selling are conducted in collaboration with the SET, which has consistently found no evidence of naked short selling. This statement was made in response to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s claims of detecting naked short selling within the Thai stock market. Pichet suggested that the 61 year old prime minister might be referencing outdated instances.

“I’m not sure where the prime minister got his information from. It might be a misunderstanding or a reference to old information because some cases were detected in the past, but only a small number.”

Pichet added that inspections of the stock market are routinely executed, and the results are made available to the public. Program trading has been a longstanding practice within the Thai stock market.

Pichet pointed out that this practice only comes under scrutiny when the market is bullish, which can impact the entire industry. He also condemned baseless allegations of naked short selling, stating that they cause misunderstanding and harm to securities companies.

SEC secretary-general, Pornanong Budsaratragoon, announced that the SEC has requested ASCO members to amend their short-selling guidelines in accordance with a notification from the SEC. Asco has also recommended the SEC scrutinise the low commission fees offered by certain brokers to ensure fair competition among market players, reported Bangkok Post.

In the same vein, SET president Pakorn Peetathawatchai stated that the bourse continues to probe into naked short selling and will issue a public announcement if any evidence of such activity is found.

“The Thai stock exchange will not allow naked short selling to take place. If anyone is found using this method, we will punish them severely.”