Roundup: Shares of U.S. video game company GameStop soar amid retail trading mania

NEW YORK, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- For the U.S. stocks market, the week was like no other, as a skyrocket in GameStop shares fueled by retail investors became spotlight.

For the week ending Friday, shares of the U.S. brick-and-mortar video game retailer soared 400 percent, handing the stock a whopping 1,625-percent gain in January.

The stock experienced great fluctuations this week. On Monday, GameStop shares closed 18 percent higher with heavy volume after multiple trading halts throughout the session. It continued to gain steam during the next two days and closed at a record high on Wednesday.

The stock soared nearly 68 percent on Friday, after slumping 44 percent in the previous session. Shares of the video game chain plunged on Thursday after Robinhood and other trading platforms took steps to curb wild trading swings in shorted stocks.

For a stock that still struggled at 10 U.S. dollars apiece in October, the rally was stunning. The buying spree was turbocharged by bullish touts on online forums.

Individual investors, particularly on the Reddit chat forum "WallStreetBets," began buying GameStop shares and encouraging others to do so.

The game retailer is a popular short target on Wall Street. More than 130 percent of its float shares had been borrowed and sold short, one of the most shorted names in the U.S. stock market, according to CNBC, citing data from FactSet.

As GameStop kept soaring, other heavily shorted names like AMC Entertainment also jumped.

While some viewed the GameStop frenzy as a standoff between retail investors and hedge funds, others were concerned about its ripple effects.

It drew attention from high-profile investors and a slew of lawmakers calling on regulators to intervene.

The speculative frenzy has raised concerns about a bubble and financial stability, according to some experts.

The mania unnerved the broader market that saw Wall Street's major averages suffer noticeable weekly losses. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 dropped 3.3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 3.5 percent, posting their worst week since October.