Shares in Plus500 collapse again after it is subjected to shorting attack

The Israeli company’s shares were suspended for a brief period

Shares in the AIM-listed spread-betting firm Plus500 collapsed again after it was subjected to a shorting attack by the US hedge fund Cable Car.

The Israeli company’s shares were suspended for a brief period before they reopened and closed down 35 per cent at 248p.

Cable Car said in a blog post that Plus had a “host of red flags”, and valued its shares at just 76p.

Earlier this week, Plus had to freeze the accounts of thousands of customers for money laundering checks, ordered by the Financial Conduct Authority. In a statement yesterday, its boss Gal Haber said: “Customers can rest assured we are doing everything in our power to resolve the current issues. Customer balances are protected in segregated accounts with major international banks, and we are mobilising significant resource to complete the verification project.”

On the FTSE 100 Vodafone hit a 14-year high as the index ended the week up 18.25 points at 7,031.72. The telecoms giant has been the talk of the town since Wednesday when the billionaire chairman of Liberty Global, John Malone, raised the possibility of a £90bn takeover bid or break-up of Vodafone by saying it would be a “great fit” for his company.

Its shares rose 11.25p to 253.75p yesterday as the excitement continued to spread across the City, and analysts at Citigroup and Deutsche Bank raised their target price to 265p and 260p respectively.

Royal Mail rose 3.5p to 503.5p after a tentative upgrade from Panmure Gordon, which slapped a 500p target price on the group, up from 480p. “The upside potential in the share price in the near term is, in our view, restricted by limited profit growth in the coming years and concerns about parcel competition, pensions and letter-volume declines,” said Panmure’s analyst Gert Zonneveld.

The mining giant BHP Billiton climbed 4p to 1,408.5p on the back of a positive note from Investec. Elsewhere, HSBC was up 6.1p to 620.6p after putting its Brazilian unit up for sale.

The AIM-listed Obtala Resources – an agricultural and timber firm – fell 0.6p to 9.1p despite talk that bidders are circling its retail division, African Home Stores.