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| - The French bourse regulator said Tuesday it was banning short-selling in 92 stocks for the day, to try to tame the massive volatility in the markets caused by the coronavirus outbreak. "Taking into account the significant losses in recent days on the financial markets, the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) has decided to take an urgent step," it said in a statement. The ban order covers mostly bank and financial stocks. Investors use short-selling to bet the market will fall, putting tremendous downward pressure on prices at a time when buy interest is virtually non-existent. The AMF said the ban would last all day Tuesday for the stocks involved, which had suffered especially badly on Monday when a global sell-off saw Wall Street plunge nearly 13 percent. The move was in line with European regulations allowing such a move for a single day, it said. The Paris market, like its European peers, did slightly better in early trade Tuesday, gaining 4.0 percent, helped in part by the short-selling ban, dealers said. jdy/bmm/jj
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