Short interest rises at Nasdaq, declines in NYSE stocks

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, April 7, 2014.

More new shorts were added in Nasdaq stocks in the end of March, but short interest declined on NYSE-listed names.

After hitting a two year high earlier in the year, short interest in NYSE stocks declined in the second half of March for the first time in 10 weeks.

Stocks listed on NASDAQ,however, saw an increase of 1.91 percent during the same period. As of March end, short interest rose to about 7.67 billion shares, compared with 7.53 billion shares as of mid-March.

The NYSE reported on Monday that short interest declined to 14.5 billion shares for the final weeks of March from 14.6 billion on March 14, a 1.05 percent decrease – the biggest such decrease since December of last year.

Biotech was one of the biggest shorts. Stocks with some of the highest ratios on Nasdaq were Myriad Genetics, WorldAcceptance and Sodastream, with more than 30 percent of outstanding shares sold as short.

NASDAQ's Most Shorted

Ticker	Security Name	Last	Chg	%Chg	SI as % of SO
MYGN	Myriad Genetics	38.75	0.75	1.97%	54.70%
WRLD	World Acceptance	79.92	-0.08	-0.10%	39.70%
OUTR	Outerwall Inc.	66.54	-1.69	-2.48%	39.50%
SODA	SodaStream	39.69	-0.23	-0.58%	36.40%
UNXL	Uni-Pixel	7.35	-0.06	-0.81%	36.30%
SWHC	Smith & Wesson	13.94	-0.22	-1.55%	36.00%
EBIX	Ebix	16.44	-0.34	-2.03%	34.40%
SRPT	Sarepta Therapeutics	22.82	-0.39	-1.70%	34.10%
VVUS	VIVUS	4.9	-0.01	-0.21%	32.30%
EGLE	Eagle Bulk Shipping	3.91	-0.27	-6.46%	32.10%

Similarly, Gamestop, U.S. Steel, Lennar and Joy Global remain the top shorted stock in the S&P 500.

S&P's Most Shorted

Ticker	Security Name	Last	Chg	%Chg	SI as % of SO
GME	GameStop Corp	41.08	-0.13	-0.32%	28.10%
X	United States Steel	26.98	-0.63	-2.28%	25.20%
JOY	Joy Global Inc.	60.64	-0.28	-0.46%	22.50%
ADT	ADT Corporation	30.13	-0.18	-0.59%	21.80%
CVC	Cablevision Systems	16.7	-0.32	-1.91%	21.80%
FTR	Frontier Comm.	5.49	0.04	0.83%	20.00%
VRSN	VeriSign	49.22	-0.96	-1.91%	17.60%
DGX	Quest Diagnostics	59.07	-0.09	-0.15%	17.20%
PETM	PetSmart	67.96	0.04	0.06%	16.40%
LEN	Lennar Corporation	39.1	-0.08	-0.20%	16.20%

Short interest measures the total number of shares of a security that has been sold short, expressed as a percent of total tradeable shares.

Investors track short-interest levels to gain a sense of where a stock might be headed, along with some insight into whether any positive news might force short traders to cover their positions, pushing stocks higher.

Russell 1000's Most Shorted

Ticker	Security Name	Last	Chg	%Chg	SI as % of SO
MYGN	Myriad Genetics	38.67	0.67	1.76%	54.70%
JCP	J. C. Penney	7.78	-0.74	-8.69%	36.20%
CLF	Cliffs Natural	19.75	-0.48	-2.37%	33.90%
VEEV	Veeva Systems	22.98	-0.28	-1.20%	33.70%
ZU	Zulily	46.34	-0.19	-0.41%	32.00%
GME	GameStop	40.94	-0.27	-0.66%	28.10%
DDD	3D Systems	50.09	1.31	2.69%	26.20%
RMD	ResMed	44.82	-0.38	-0.84%	25.30%
X	United States Steel	26.89	-0.71	-2.57%	25.20%
HLF	Herbalife	61.04	1.2	2.01%	24.70%

- By CNBC's Pradip Sigdyal