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Offshore Investors Pile on Bearish Bets Against Australia Stocks

Offshore Investors Pile on Bearish Bets Against Australia Stocks

Offshore Investors Pile on Bearish Bets Against Australia Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- Offshore investors are piling on wagers against Australian equities amid a gamut of risks from slumping house prices to the upcoming national election and earnings season. Short interest as a percentage of outstanding shares on the iShares MSCI Australia exchange-traded fund remains just shy of the record high reached in December, according to IHS Markit data. At the same time, short interest on the most liquid ETF in the world that tracks the S&P 500 Index has nudged up by a much smaller margin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Burgess in Sydney at mburgess46@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Adam Haigh, Matt Turner

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