European regulators extend short selling ban

Italian, Spanish and French financial market regulators late on Wednesday extended the temporary bans on the short selling of selected financial stocks and banks in a bid to curb market volatility.

The ban, which was originally implemented on August 12, will now last until November 11 for France and Italy owing to “continued market instability in European markets,” the European Securities and Markets Authority announced. Spain’s ban will not be lifted “until market conditions allow it.”

The Spanish financial regulator said in a statement: “The current situation of protracted instability in European securities markets, in particular in financial stocks, does not yet make it advisable to lift the temporary restrictions on transactions that might constitute a creation or increase of net short positions in Spanish financial stocks.”