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Friday, 16 January 2009

Short-selling ban ends today (update)

My earlier blog asked
"How will the stock market react today as the FSA's three month ban on the short-selling of financial shares ends? Could we see a huge drop in the FTSE as bank shares take a pounding? After all the news coming out of Barclays, for one, has hardly been positive this week..."


So the news that:
"Shares in major UK banks have fallen sharply amid fears that more financial institutions will need to be bailed out by the government.

Worst hit was Barclays, which fell 25% while Royal Bank of Scotland, in which the UK government has a near-60% stake, closed 13% lower.

...

Dealers said there was no single reason for the sharp fall in share prices, but that short-selling had also hurt the sector after the expiration of a ban on the short-selling of financial shares.

"The shorting ban has been lifted and I guess the short guys have been sharpening up their tools and looking to see who they'll have a pop at next," said Numis Securities analyst James Hamilton."



What did I tell you?

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