LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - The UK government said on Tuesday it would no longer require short sellers to publicly disclose their trades on UK companies. Under the rule change funds will no longer have to tell the public their individual net short positions on a stock. Currently, funds must tell the FCA when they have borrowed 0.1% of a company's outstanding stock in order to short it. Critics say short sellers hurt companies and exacerbate market volatility, but short sellers and advocates say they act as an important check on public firms. She said the move would "unleash the benefits of short selling, including enhancing market liquidity, promoting price discovery, and exposing corporate fraud."

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Persons: Jillien Flores, Nell Mackenzie, Dhara Ranasinghe, Mark Potter Organizations: Financial, Authority, Union, Financial Services, Markets, FCA, Critics, Association, Thomson