August Short Interest Jumps Across Five Securities

Short interest rose sharply in August across all five securities, though the increases varied considerably in scale and significance. Rising Dragon Acquisition posted the largest percentage jump, up 1,749.7% to 35,663 shares, while Brilliance China Automotive climbed 313.0% to 3.46 million shares and Daicel increased 297.4% to 133,401 shares. Daito Trust Construction’s short interest rose 172.6% to 36,655 shares, and the Dimensional Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity ETF saw a 148.5% increase to 5,649 shares. Brilliance China had by far the highest days-to-cover ratio at more than 4,100 days because of extremely low trading volume, while Daicel’s ratio was effectively uncalculable and the other securities had ratios of 0.5 days or less. The reports provide limited evidence of broad investor conviction beyond the short-interest data; Brilliance China received a neutral downgrade, Rising Dragon retained a sell rating, and several funds initiated positions in the Dimensional ETF.