Heavy borrowing cost on BHEL signals aggressive shorts

Reuters Market Eye - The high costs charged for lending and borrowing on Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd indicate shorts are building up, analysts say.

The average lending fee on BHEL in the NSE was at 2.54 rupees a share on Thursday, which on an annualised basis works out to 21.05 percent yield for the lender, NSE data shows.

Yogesh Radke, head of quantitative research at Edelweiss Securities Ltd, said interest on BHEL under the securities lending and borrowing scheme (SLBS) has surged.

"Under the SLBS mechanism, BHEL has witnessed active interest from borrowers in the past six-seven months. The borrowing happening at an average cost of 12-20 percent per annum indicates short aggression in the counters," Radke said.

BHEL shares were down 0.4 percent at 11.49 am.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)