NASDAQ says faced pressure on short-selling

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group Inc (NDAQ.O), the transatlantic exchange operator, faced pressure from companies to curb short selling last year, its president said.

Magnus Bocker told the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York that, late last year, there were many companies trying to figure out why their share prices were collapsing, and how they could stop it.

"We had a lot of calls and a lot of questions on whether we have been supporting short selling," Bocker said.

Short sellers bet that shares will decline by selling stock they have borrowed, in the hopes of buying it back later at a lower price.

BATS Trading Chief Executive Joe Ratterman said Monday that he had heard of company heads giving larger rivals Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYX.N) an earful when the stocks of those companies come under attack from short sellers.

Last month, members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission voted to solicit public comment on five recommendations, including the so-called uptick rule, intended to curb short-selling.

Short sellers have been blamed for making the financial crisis worse, and some lawmakers and executives have put pressure on the SEC to curb them.

In March, the Nasdaq Stock Market, BATS and the New York Stock Exchange jointly recommended a modified uptick rule in a letter to the SEC.

(Reporting by Tenzin Pema, editing by Gunna Dickson)