Slide ‘proves short sellers not to blame’

Short sellers say the shares sell-off even after the ban on their activities proves they were not to blame for the financial crisis.

The US ban on short selling expires at midnight tonight but there are question marks over how many institutions will be prepared to lend shares to shorts after that.

Several leading pension funds stopped lending certain financial stocks to short sellers even before the ban was introduced.

"The contention was that short-selling was driving down stock prices, driving down the stock prices of financial institutions," veteran US short seller William Ackman said at a meeting of the Council of Institutional Investors in Chicago.

The ban had forced bearish speculators onto the sidelines but the stocks they had allegedly targeted had continued to suffer, he said.
"What better evidence do you have that it's not short sellers driving down the prices?" he said.