Short sellers have maintained their focus on mining services...

Short sellers have maintained their focus on mining services companies over the past year with Monadelphous, Paladin Energy, Atlas, UGL and ALS among the most shorted stocks. WAM Capital senior equity analyst Martin Hickson said as the capital investment phase of the mining boom came to an end, there was less work for mining services companies. "We've seen a significant slowdown in the amount of work within that industry over the last 12 to 18 months," Mr Hickson said. Short-sellers have slightly loosened their grip on retail companies JB Hi-Fi and Myer, although they are still clear favourites with a respective 13 per cent and 12 per cent of their shares shorted. Hedge funds have also been consistently climbing up the registers of The Reject Store and wholesaler Metcash, both of which are now among the 10 most shorted companies. "Consumer discretionary is one of the most heavily shorted sectors at the moment,'' Mr Hickson said. ''We're in an environment where consumer confidence is very low, where consumers are very cautious and aren't out there spending a lot and that is obviously weighing on retail." Fairfax Media, which publishes BusinessDay, has lost the interest of hedge funds. The publisher was the most shorted stock last year with 16.7 per cent of shares sold short, but now has only 3.2 per cent of its stock shorted. AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said Fairfax seemed to be in a tenuous position a year ago, whereas concerns about the business are "no longer front and centre". "The advertising market seems to have improved a little bit. I think you could possibly argue that Fairfax did go through a round of restructuring. That's probably lowered the cost base, and there's more certainty about management structure at Fairfax," Dr Oliver said. "Fairfax a year ago it was in a bit of a hole. It was down around 50¢, now it's about 91. It had a sharp rise earlier this year in February," Dr Oliver said. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/mark...nd-biotechs-20140722-zto1z.html#ixzz38BlOXKZq

Heavy short position doesn't mean share price won't rise. FXJ is a perfect example as it was shorted over 16%, but it's share price rose from 35c to $1.