ASIC is right to maintain the rage against inappropriate disclosure but heaping more constraints on analysts comes at a potential cost
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect
ASIC is right to maintain the rage against inappropriate disclosure but heaping more constraints on analysts comes at a potential cost. (See Report 393, Handling of confidential information: Briefings and unannounced corporate transactions, May 2014 for ASIC's views.) Market efficiency is fostered by analysts fearlessly expressing opinions. Out of consensus opinions should be welcomed. They can arise by methodically assembling a mosaic of individually non-material pieces of information and conducting interviews to confirm analytical conclusions. The internal and external regulatory surveillance faced by analysts could become so intimidating that they fear drifting too far away from the herd. Tracking the consensus becomes the easiest way to earn a living. Under some circumstances, this could prove as deleterious to market efficiency as insider trading. Who is measuring that cost?
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John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business strategist and investment market professional for over 30 years after starting his career as a Commonwealth Treasury economist in Canberra. Since being Australia's top-rated commodities analyst and chief economist at one of Australia' leading stockbroking firms, he has advised companies across the mining, consumer products, IT and biotech sectors on their equity market relations. He leads the firm's investment evaluation and security structuring activities on behalf of the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB), the world's first equity 'crowdfunding' investment platform. John Robertson discusses the interaction of mining and investment markets in his weekly 'From the Capital' column in Mining Journal.
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect
John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...
Expertise
No areas of expertise
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect
John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...
Expertise
No areas of expertise
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