A ban by France and Belgium on short-selling shares in certain financial institutions has been lifted, market regulators said on Monday. Analysts said an improvement in market sentiment was probably behind the removal of the bans which should bring added liquidity to trading.
Some French financial stocks have posted rebounds of 20-40 percent so far this year on the back of unprecedented cheap funding from the European Central Bank.
In France the ban was introduced on August 11 alongside several European countries after fears of a major funding crunch hammered French bank shares. "The measure banning any net short position ... on a list of specific French financial stocks ended on February 11," the AMF regulator said in a statement, adding that a new regime of disclosing short positions had been introduced.