Message :
Required fields
March 4 (Reuters) - Australia s Myer Holdings Ltd
said on Thursday store closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic led
to a 13% drop in first-half sales, sending shares of the
department store operator to a near two-month low.
The 120-year old retailer, an icon of the country s high
street, said sales fell to A$1.40 billion ($1.09 billion) for
the six months ended Jan. 25, from A$1.61 billion a year ago, as
restrictions on movement particularly hit sales in metro cities
such as Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Myer and other brick-and-mortar retailers have been among
the hardest hit by the pandemic, and have had to depend on
Image source: Getty Images
At the start of each week I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.
This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.
With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:
Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) remains the most shorted share on the ASX but only just. This week the online travel agent’s short interest has fallen by 200 basis points to 12.5%. Some short sellers may have been locking in returns after a recent and sharp pullback in the Webjet share price.
ASX retail shares gear up for Christmas boom
Miles Wu | December 11, 2020 9:26am |
More on: Image source: Getty Images
This year the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a blow to many retailers across Australia. Brick-and-mortar retailers have been under pressure from lockdown restrictions, cautious consumer spending and intense competition from online retailing.
However, there are signs of a turnaround. Roy Morgan, an Australian market research company, conducted a retail sales forecast with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) in November. They predict Australians will spend over $54.3 billion across retail stores during the Christmas period, which is an increase of 2.8% on the 2019 Christmas period.
Because of the impact of spending patterns caused by COVID-19, the Roy Morgan retail sales forecast also suggested that online retailing is predicted to grow by 6.6% compared to 2019.