Last week, the big boys, the so-called “whales” are in action again. Keppel Corporation was the subject target and was relentlessly shorted in huge volumes. The short sell orders executed were:
- 25 January 2016: Short sale volume: 4,918,000 worth SGD 24,158,094
- 26 January 2016: Short sale volume: 5,875,800 worth SGD 27,831,381
- 27 January 2016: Short sale volume: 3,895,600 worth SGD 18,456,686
It seems like the whales are hell-bent on lowering the value of Keppel Corporation as oil prices crash to a 14-year low. Due to the oil rout, Keppel Corp latest Q4 profit fell 44% and its 2015 profit dropped to a 5-year low. Incidentally, Keppel Corp is also a conglomerate with stakes in the property sector, which is also facing a slowdown. The double-whammy gave the whales the perfect opportunity to “wallop” Keppel Corporation and short the counter like nobody’s business.
Of course there were other blue chips which suffered from the recent whales’ attacks but the data from SGX’s Marking ...
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There are other stocks that are also being shorted heavily — Sembcorp Marine and Sembcorp Industries for instance, which also have exposure to oil and gas, but also Singtel and the 3 local banks OCBC, UOB and DBS.
So does the same advice apply to these stocks?