Muddy Waters' Block says OSC move a "major positive"

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NEW YORK (Global Markets) - Carson Block, director of research at Muddy Waters Research, said on Friday that the Ontario Securities Commission's moves against Sino-Forest (TRE.TO) were "a major positive."

The OSC ordered all trading in Sino-Forest securities to cease and ordered several executives to resign, though it rescinded that order.

"It seems the OSC has some information investors do not that it believes is material to investment decisions," Block said. "I'm impressed with the progress the OSC has made so far."

Muddy Waters on June 2 issued a sharply negative report on Sino-Forest, accusing it of exaggerating the size of its forestry assets and sparking a massive decline in the shares.

"We're encouraged that it looks like the wheels of justice are turning," Block said, adding that while his firm faced criticism for its report, "at the end of the day, people who lost money in this are hurting a lot more from (Sino-Forest) than we are."

Shares of Sino-Forest slid 5.7 percent on Friday before being halted. They have plunged almost 74 percent since the close prior to the Muddy Waters report on June 2.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica)