Short interest plummets for CTRP, LONG, HRAY and JRJC

Short interest data is now available for Nasdaq stocks through May 15th. Short interest has fallen sharply for some Chinese stocks:

Changes in short interest from April 15th to May 15th (March 15th - April 15th changes in brackets):

Online travel services:

• Ctrip.com (ticker: CTRP) -30.8% (-5.8%)
• eLong (ticker: LONG) -36.2% (-61.3%)

Internet services:

• Sohu.com (ticker: SOHU) +7.3% (+23.3%)
• Sina.com (ticker: SINA) -11.5% (-28.0%)

Online games:

• Shanda Interactive (ticker: SNDA) +18.2% (-8.4%)
• Netease.com (ticker: NTES) +10.7% (-8.7%)
• The9 (ticker: NCTY) +0.1% (+21.0%)
• (Korean) Webzen (ticker: WZEN) -5.2% (-13.1%)
• (Korean) Gravity (ticker: GRVY) -74.6% (-48.5%)

Wireless services:

• KongZhong (ticker: KONG) +6.1% (+53.4%)
• Linktone (ticker: LTON) +4.3% (-27.8%)
• Tom Online (ticker: TOMO) -12.3% (-3.3%)
• Hurray (ticker: HRAY) -39.2% (-29.1%)

Employee recruiting and human resources services:

• 51Job (ticker: JOBS) +4.6% (+20.4%)

Financial services:

• China Finance Online (ticker: JRJC) -49.4% (+7.8%)

Software:

• Ninetowns (ticker: NINE) +26.5% (-12.9%)

Quick comment on "short interest" from the Internet Stock Blog: High
short interest can be interpreted two ways: it represents pent-up
buying demand, so it's technically bullish; but it might show that
smart investors are bearish on a stock, in which case it's bearish.
Most analysts interpret high short interest as bullish, particularly
for stocks with small floats, in which case high short interest signals
risk of a short-squeeze.