Snap crackles following popular IPO 09 March 2017London Reporter: Mark Dugdale
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Short sellers were quick to snap up shares of the parent company of picture messaging app Snapchat following its closely watched initial public offering.
Snap opened on 2 March at $24 per share, rising to a peak of $29.44 during the second day, before falling back slightly to close at $27.09, FIS Astec Analytics has reported. But the market wouldn’t support those prices and the stock closed at $21.44 on 7 March.
“This price is still well above most target prices for this issue, suggesting that a large volume of short sales would not be a surprise,” FIS Astec Analytics explained in a note on the stock.
Securities lending market participants didn’t disappoint. Lending activity started early on 7 March and by noon there were 3.3 million shares being borrowed, with the levels of demand making Snap shares among the most expensive specials.
By 1pm on 7 March, an additional 2.4 million shares had been borrowed, according to FIS Astec Analytics intraday data.
In total, 10.2 million shares were on loan by the end of the day on 7 March, with a weighted average cost well into the specials range.
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