PDSnet Glossary

Term

Categories

Introductory Technical Fundamental Economics Opinion Sectors International Regulatory Other Markets

Versions

Name	synonyms = 1, variations = 2, abbreviations = 3

Publish: (0 = no, 1 = yes)

Definition

A practice, over the December period when trade on the JSE is relatively thin because of the holidays, when institutions drive the prices of the shares in their portfolios up so as to make their year-end figures look better. For example, if a unit trust holds a large quantity of a certain share and they report annually, they can enter the market on 31st December and with relatively little money push the price of that particular share up significantly so that their performance for the whole year looks that much better. This practice also occurs on major markets like Wall Street. Consider the following chart of the trade on the last day of 2022 which was Friday 30th December:
<img src="http://www.pdsnet.co.za/onlinecourse/images/SP_real_timeglossary.png" />
S&P500 Index: 30 December 2022. Chart by Google.
 
You can see here that certain big institutions pushed the S&P500 index up in the last hour of trade by taking long positions in a very thinly traded market. Their efforts caused the index to close just 0,25% down - instead of the 1,25% down that it was at earlier in the trading day. The fraction of a percent that they gained by doing this could make the annual performance of their portfolios look better.

Edit Glossary Term