LONDON (Reuters) – Hedge funds may have missed out on sharp falls in banks’ shares in recent days because few rushed in after the UK’s ban on short selling financial stocks expired on Friday, data shows.
According to figures from research firm Data Explorers, the amount of stock out on loan — a good indication of how much a stock has been sold short — did not increase on Friday in Royal Bank of Scotland and actually fell in HBOS.
Stock out on loan in HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Barclays rose only slightly.