Porsche bring relief to shortsellers

Oct 29 - Shares in carmaker Volkswagen nearly halve after main shareholder Porsche takes steps to ease a squeeze on shortsellers.

Meanwhile stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse cut the weighting of VW shares in the blue-chip DAX index after a surge in value briefly made it the world's most valuable company.

VW's stock had quadrupled in a matter of days, after Posrche said it had indirect control of 74.1 percent of VW.

As the German state of Lower Saxony holds a 20 percent stake in VW, less than 6 percent of the stock was left floating on the market, and short sellers scrambled to find shares.

Joanna Partridge reports for Reuters