Investors take short positions on Nokia Short selling of stock in Nokia has neared record highs as investors bet that its smartphones will struggle to succeed against the latest devices from Apple and Samsung. Investors are betting that there could be more bad news on the way for the Finnish handset maker even as shares in its rival Apple hit new peaks this week following the unveiling of the iPhone 5 last week. Nearly 90 per cent of Nokia shares that can be borrowed for short selling - where traders bet on a stock price falling - are already out on loan, according to Markit, the data group. Markit said this means it would be "hard and expensive" to short Nokia any more. The increase in short selling comes as analysts warn that the next quarter could be grim for Nokia, given further pressure on sales and discounting of its existing ranges. Nokia launched its latest Windows-based smartphones earlier this month but shares in the group began falling even as the company was unveiling the devices in New York. While the phones were met with favourable reviews - given improved cameras, mapping and remote charging - they failed to spark belief that Nokia could mount a challenge to the dominance of market leaders such as Apple and Samsung. Markit records short interest in Nokia at close to a high of 16 per cent of total shares out on loan, rising 9.5 per cent since the beginning of the month. This compares with the average stock on loan across telecoms equipment of 4 per cent. There is almost no short selling in Apple, with just 0.5 per cent out on loan, and just 2 per cent being borrowed in Samsung. Research from Astec Analytics, the US research group owned by SunGard, shows that the level of Nokia stock out on loan has reached a record, with 184m shares on loan. Since Nokia's new phones were launched, 75m more of its Finnish shares were borrowed by short sellers and an additional 40m shares of Nokia's US-traded American depositary receipts. There are no shares of the ADR still available to borrow from institutional lenders, Astec said, and the price that lenders were able to charge had risen 10-fold in the past month. Tim Smith, director of Astec Analytics, said: "No one is betting against Apple, after all the new iPhone is going to impact the gross domestic product of the largest economy in the world. But investors are rushing to take short positions on Nokia. Shares in Nokia have been volatile, jumping more than two-thirds during August ahead of its phone launch in September, but the rise was seen by analysts as short covering. They are still much higher than the July low of €1.33, the lowest since 1996, and closed down 1.2 per cent at €2.18 on Thursday following the launch of rival Windows phones from HTC. Other handset makers that are facing similar challenges in the fiercely competitive smartphone market are also under selling pressure, with 10 per cent of shares in BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on loan, according to Markit, and 15 per cent of HTC.