Short sellers burned as Home Retail and Ocado shares spike

Shares in Home Retail Group and Ocado - two of the most shorted stocks in the UK equity market - have leapt this morning after a pair of well-received announcements.

Online grocer Ocado's confirmation that it is in talks with Morrisons over a strategic partnership sent the former's shares up 17%, with Morrisons itself rising as much as 5% before paring most of those gains. Home Retail Group, meanwhile, lifted profit forecasts after better-than-expected sales in the eight weeks to 8 March, with shares rising 10% as a result. The wider FTSE All-Share was up 0.3% at 3,422, with the FTSE 100 rising 0.2% to 6,496. The share price jumps will have left many short sellers with burnt fingers, data from Markit suggests: as of the turn of the year, Ocado ...