It's obvious that they're moving in other direction after BHP...

It's obvious that they're moving in other direction after BHP abandoned RIO. For some reason, some people will blame shorter (sell RIO). Other reason, people are getting out from RIO and buy BHP.

Well, I think - shorter is not totally wrong (they could provide a huge liquidity in the market and greater price discovery). While banning short selling. It, indirectly, reduces investors' confidence.

The analysts looked for other factors to explain the wider spreads during the ban but could not find any. They examined, for example, whether volatility on banned relative to non-banned stocks was higher during the ban and whether prices in banned relative to non-banned stocks dropped more during the ban. The findings were negative in both cases.

Just think positively, it is not always short sellers. How about people who set stop loss order and the price hit their trigger price>?(their sell order will be placed in the market automatically). In support, naked short-selling is not allowed in AUS. On the other hand, how about people who borrow money to buy shares and receive margin call and they can't meet the margin call?

What IMO RIO will hit $30 on tomorrow trading and if it hits below $30 then it will drop further until resistance level $27.50 (probably next week). and it will equal to BHP SP. ATM the market punishes companies who have higher debt level. I do believe that RIO will do something about their debt (more likely they will get 'fresh' funds). It is a bit surprise while MQG still stay solid. Again, I am not an expert so I won't be able to predict what will happen. This is just my own opinion.

FYI

FTSE 100 at 13:12

RIO RIO TINTO GBX 1028.00 -120.00 -10.45%
BLT BHP BILLITON GBX 1016.00 -59.00 -5.49%