Hi, This is quite common on the ASX, and its not clear to me what is going on. My interpretation is that some big companies literally buy millions of shares and then sell them merely 1-2 days later. Can someone confirm this / please explain what is happening? The latest example I've observed is with NMG. The ASX announcements are: 10-04-2012 - Becoming a substantial holder 16-04-2012 - Change in substantial holding 17-04-2012 - Change in substantial holding The 10-04-2012 post says, that Bank of America became a substantial holder on 03-04-2012, and holds 33,903,807 shares. The 16-04-2012 post says, that Bank of America says that they gave the ASX an announcement on 10-04-2012, but that there was a change in their share holding on 11-04-2012, and that they previously held 33,903,807 shares, but now hold 40,206,919 shares. The 17-04-2012 post says, that Bank of America says that they gave the ASX an announcement on 16-04-2012, but that there was a change in their share holding on 12-04-2012, and that they previously held 40,206,919 shares, but now hold 30,747,961 shares. So apparently they brought 9,458,958 shares on 16-04-2012, and then sold them the very next day?? Please advise. Thanks.
When a shareholder holds more than 5% of the shares of a company, they are required to make this known to the market via a substantial shareholder announcement. While they continue to hold more than 5%, they must announce any change in their shareholding (ie. buying or selling). You will see such announcements in just about every company's register it's very common. It's pretty easy for a super fund to end up owning more than 5% of even a medium sized company. And yes, some of the funds seem to both buy and sell the same stock - even on the same day.... I have no idea why they do this.
