Local authorities in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain yesterday dipped into controversial territory, imposing a ban on short selling financial stocks due to recent volatility in financial markets. So what difference has it made?
At first glance it appears that the regulators' intervention has had the desired effect: each of the four countries involved has seen the average share price of its banks rebound today, with the average share price of Italian and Spanish banks even moving into positive territory, according to Bloomberg data. However before too much credit is given to the regulators, it may be worth noting that the uptick in share price of banks in the four countries that have imposed short selling restrictions is in line with what has been happening in the rest of Europe. The 148 European banks stocks in Bloomberg's sector universe - excluding banks from France, Belgium, Italy or Spain - have seen an average rise in share price of 0.43 per cent over the past day, compared to an average drop in share price of 4.26 per cent over the past five days.
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