G'day,Just to bring some sanity to this "shorting"...

G'day,

Just to bring some sanity to this "shorting" discussion.

What happened on the 16th was that a single broker sold 211,000 CST shares during the day on behalf of a client. The broker actually sold the 211,000 shares out of their own account and then transferred the 211,000 shares from the client account(s) into the broker account.

The sales during the day were recorded as short sales (because the broker was selling shares that he/she did not actually have). This procedural short was then cleared after market by the transfer from the client account to the broker account.

I am told that the above procedure is sometimes used when selling on behalf of overseas clients. I know not why.

The end result of all of the above was:

1) A short was recorded that did not (really) exist.

2) The volume for the day was overstated by 211,000 shares.

Everybody happy?