France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Greece have announced the ban will continue until further notice but will not go beyond 11 November this year.
French regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) said it was “acting in close co-operation with the other European regulators that limited short selling.”
The list of banned securities in France includes Axa, BNP Paribas, CIC, Crédit Agricole, Natixis, and Société Générale, the bank which triggered the action when its stock plunged 15% in a single day’s trading.
The AMF said it would “closely monitor the markets and their developments” and that by the end of September it would assess the possibility of lifting the ban.
“The aim is to lift the ban as soon as market conditions allow it and, to the extent possible, in a coordinated way,” the French regulator said.
The move was once more coordinated by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
“EU securities’ regulators are closely monitoring the functioning of the markets and continue considering possible actions which might be taken to contribute to orderly functioning markets,” ESMA said in a policy statement.
“Some EU securities regulators have adopted measures in their respective markets either to limit, or to introduce stringent requirements or further reporting obligations by firms to supervisory authorities on short-selling.”
