The Ontario Securities Commission issued an order on Friday extending its amended temporary order prohibiting short selling of certain financial sector issuers until 11:59 p.m. on Wed. Oct. 8.

The original temporary order prohibiting short selling of securities of certain financial sector issuers that are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that are also interlisted in the U.S., with the exception of one issuer whose shares are exchangeable, was made on Sept. 19.

The original temporary order was issued as a precautionary matter with respect to short selling of the securities of financial sector issuers, trading in Ontario, that were subject to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission short selling order dated Sept. 18. The original temporary order was amended on Sept. 22.

The OSC’s most recent action supports action taken by the SEC, whereby it extended its short selling order on Oct. 2. U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 on Friday and, therefore, the SEC’s order will terminate on the third business day thereafter, Oct. 8, at 11:59 p.m. The OSC extension expires on that day and time.

The issuers subject to the extension order are: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Kingsway Financial Services Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation, Quest Capital Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life Financial Inc., Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc., The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Merrill Lynch & Co., Canada Ltd. Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Investment Company Ltd. has been removed from the list of issuers subject to the extension order as it is not interlisted in the U.S.