공매도와 상장기업의 자기주식 취득 역할 제고 방안 연구

It is said, in normal market conditions, that short selling is to improve market efficiency through more accurate price formation and enhanced liquidity. On the other hand, short selling can convey a signal to the market that a firm is over-valued. In the current Korean securities market, the foreign and institutional investors are account for the largest portion of the short selling volume, nearly 95 percent of the total short. Short selling involves borrowing a security and selling it on the open market, then purchase it later at a lower price, pocketing the difference after repaying the initial loan. Shorting stocks is a way to profit from falling stock prices. Due to excessive short selling mainly from global investors including Merril Lynch Int’l, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc, lots of the blue chip companies have suffered from unreasonable fall in their stock prices. The Korean commercial law was amended in 2011 to allow the company to acquire treasury stocks within the range of dividend and to keep them without retirement immediately. Many listed companies have purchase its stocks for the purpose of blocking the fall in stock price, or the protection of incumbent management, etc. Under the Korean Capital Market Act(“the Act”), all listed companies shall comply with the strict conditions on the price, time and volume, when they purchase their stocks in the open market. In order to provide fairness in securities market against the merciless short selling, it is necessary to consider give the listed companies more flexibility in purchasing their stocks in terms of volume, time, and price. And also, it is reasonable to provide them with safe-harbor rule, in order that the purchase of its stock by the listed company shall not be deemed to have violated the anti-manipulation provisions of the Act.