The FSA said on Thursday it did not believe short selling had driven sharp falls in banking prices over the past week. A ban on the short selling of financial shares in some of the biggest banks have suffered big losses since then and after the government’s second rescue plan failed to calm market nerves on Monday. City AM’s p2 said today that short selling was not to blame for the sharp falls in banking share prices over the past week.
We can now give you the data as of c.o.b on Wednesday, the most recent in the market. As you can see from these graphs of Lloyds TSB (LLOY) Barclays (BARC), HSBC (HSBA) and RBS (RBS), minimal short activity has taken place, however, there has been an uptick in short interest activity.
Lloyds has increased slightly from 1.10% of its shares outstanding on loan to 1.45%, with Utilisation increasing from 9% to 14% over the past week.
Barclays has risen from 3.47% to 5.2%, with Utilisation rising from 17% to 27%.
HSBC has risen from 1.63% to 2.05%, with Utilisation rising from 5% to 7.5%.
RBS has risen from 0.37% to 0.81%, with Utilisation rising from 1% to 6%.
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