Four EU states ban short-selling to curb financial turmoil

Four EU countries have slapped a temporary ban on short-selling in an effort to dampen down wild swings in trades in banking stocks.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, the bloc’s market supervisor, announced on Thursday (11 August) that Belgium, France, Italy and Spain had made the move, a ban that will last for 15 days.

Short selling traders in effect make a bet that certain shares will decline in value. The practice has been blamed for exacerbating volatility in alre...