The Philippines stock exchange prepares for short-selling

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has announced that guidelines on short-selling transactions will take effect immediately following their approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). With key components of securities borrowing and lending (SBL) cleared, the PSE moves closer to implementing short-selling—a strategy of profiting from stock price declines, common in Asian markets like Singapore and Hong Kong. In May, the SEC approved offshore collateral for SBL, and the BIR registered the Global Master Securities Lending Agreement in September. Eligibility for short selling now includes members of the PSE MidCap and PSE Dividend Yield indices, beyond the earlier scope of only PSE index securities and exchange-traded funds.