The ten most-hated shares in the FTSE

These are London’s ten most-hated shares, judged by the percentage of stock being shorted.

These are London's ten most-hated shares, judged by the percentage of stock being shorted.

Short sellers aim to profit from falling stock prices, so it can be useful to see what they are betting against. The list is also a good indicator of stocks with the potential to bounce strongly on unexpected good news "short squeezes" occur when short sellers are forced out of their positions, which can send share prices surging.

The supermarkets remain unpopular, while investors appear to consider Admiral fully valued. The other new entrant is Drax, representative of wider bearishness on electricity utilities as wholesale electricity prices fall and renewables subsidies are cut.

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CarillionConstruction/outsourcing17.71%15.34%
Wm MorrisonSupermarkets12.65%11.92%
J SainsburySupermarkets11.03%10.74%
Ashmore GroupEmerging-markets fund mgr8.99%7.85%
Tungsten Corp.Invoicing services8.85%6.57%
Hansteen HoldingsReal-estate investment trust8.62%7.94%
Admiral GroupMotor insurance8.48%New entry
Drax GroupPower generation7.69%New entry
WH SmithRetail7.70%8.66%
ElectrocomponentsElectronics distribution7.48%6.77%
Andrew Van Sickle

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.