Several European securities regulators are extending their short-selling bans by another month.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) agreed to renew emergency restrictions on short-selling by the regulators in Austria, Belgium, France, Greece and Spain.
All five of the regulators introduced short-selling curbs in March that are set to expire later this month.
However, they’ve all now agreed to extend the restrictions until May 18, with the possibility that they may be renewed again, depending on market conditions.
ESMA said that the extensions “are justified by current adverse events or developments which constitute a serious threat to market confidence and financial stability, and that they are appropriate and proportionate to address the existing threat to market confidence in those five markets.”
Last week, the Canadian Securities Administrators and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada issued a joint statement indicating that they don’t see the need to restrict short-selling in Canada.
The Canadian regulators said that short-selling isn’t the reason for the recent market declines, and that investors need to be able to take both long and short positions to execute investment and risk-management strategies.