In the period of hefty gains on S&P500 index, up 8 percnet so far this year, it seems shortsellers were brutally corrected. The net short interest in the flagship market index is now at 2.5 percent, the least since August 2011. Because U.S. markets are rallying, shortsellers are turning their attentions to other regions, like Europe and China.
You can see our full hedge fund short positions in Europe here.
In the UK another hedge fund shortseller has taken interest in MAN GROUP PLC (PINK:MNGPF), Marshall Wace started with a 0.56 percent position this week, joining others like AQR Capital Management and Lansdowne Partners who had negative bets amounting to 1.28 percent and 1.81 percent of Man’s outstanding shares respectively.
Meanwhile Tiger Cub, Joho Capital is actively covering its short in CSR plc (LON:CSR), which is down to 2.7 percent from 3.24 percent at the beginning of March. CSR plc (LON:CSR) manufactures single chip wireless systems, the stock has gained more than 27 percent in the last month. Joho Capital initiated the position in Nov 2012, share price is up 35 percent to date. Anoher with short position in CSR are BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), which has been reducing the short as well.
Another Tiger Cub, John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital has been reducing its short stake in The Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) since the end of February, now down to 1.69 percent from 2.88 percent as of Feb 28. The Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) has also been gaining in value, up from 1742 pence on Nov 1 to 2411 pence on today’s close. Slate Path Capital and Samlyn Capital have also been reducing their short positions in The Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR).
Kynikos Associates, hedge fund of Jim Chanos is not reducing Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) anytime soon, the short stake now amounts to 5.14 percent of the company which is the largest negative bet in Ocado so far.
D.E Shaw started a short position in Carnival plc (NYSE:CUK) (LON:CCL) with a 0.5 percent stake, existing shortsellers included CQS UK, Black River Asset Management and AQR Capital. The cruise company Carnival plc (NYSE:CUK) (LON:CCL) just recently announced a renewed shares repurchase program and a quarterly dividend.
Both Lansdowne Partners and Odey Asset Management, large and well known UK based hedge funds, initiated shorts in Ashmore Group plc (LON:ASHM) with a 0.5 and 0.6 percent position respectively. Ashmore Group plc (LON:ASHM) provides investment management services.
