Daily Brief Financials: Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200, Bell Financial, NIFTY Index and more

In today’s briefing:

FSS’s Short Selling Guidelines: Breaking Down the Key Violation Cases and What They Mean
Bell Financial Group Ltd – Reported FY24 NPAT +26% in line
EQD / NSE NIFTY50 Vol Update / India Budget Event Is Driving Price-Action in the Options Market

FSS’s Short Selling Guidelines: Breaking Down the Key Violation Cases and What They Mean

The issue with borrowing agreements is that contracts with conditions set later or changeable terms don’t count, creating uncertainty on how this will play out in practice.
Many borrowing agreements depend on recall timing for ownership recognition, even within the same day, creating confusion in practice.
Repayment period limits don’t apply to internal desk-to-desk trades within the same firm. Other than those, no new updates today on reporting requirements, T+2 reporting window, or lending limits.

RaaS has published an update report on diversified financials company Bell Financial Group (ASX:BFG) following the release of FY24 unaudited revenue and reported NPAT, with group revenue +12% to $276m (RaaS $279m), implying H2 FY24 growth of 8.0%, and group NPAT +26% to $30.7m (RaaS $31m), implying H2 FY24 growth of 7.0%.
Divisionally Retail & Wholesale NPAT increased 115% to $9.2m, with H1 growth >900% and a H2 decline of ~20% on forecast lower ECM activity off a high base and in line with ASX market data.
Technology & Platforms and Products & Services NPAT increased 16% over the year, with H1 +~5% and H2 +~25% (including normalisation assumptions), likely to be aided by growth in Funds Under Administration (FUA) and higher transaction volumes.These businesses now represent 70% of group NPAT with a NPAT margin of 25% compared to 5.2% for Retail & Wholesale.

India Budget on 01.02.2025 driving price-action in the Options Market. Monthly IVs marked up at 17.0% as contracts cover event-risk. Vol Regime Model pushed into “High & Up” state.
Vol term-structure bent into kinked-shape due to India Budget date. Skew characteristics are elevated while Smile largely unchanged with the exception of Monthly 10-Delta Strangles.
Trading Strategy Implications: (1) Switch to “High & Up” vol-state triggers a cutback in Short Gamma & Short Vega exposure. (2) Vol-barbell opportunity due to the kinked-shape of the Vol-curve.

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