ESMA Continues Ban On Short Selling as Greece Uncertainty Lingers

Following on from an official opinion that was released a week ago, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA ) has decided to extend a ban on short selling.

The decision prohibits investors to trade in “any financial instrument that creates, or increases, a net short position on any of the shares admitted to trading on the Athens Exchange and Multilateral Trading Facility.” The ban will carry through until midnight July 13(CET).

In a statement, ESMA said that it “considers that adverse developments which constitute a serious threat to market confidence in the Greek market still persist and that the proposed measure is appropriate and proportionate to address the above mentioned threats.”

More explicitly, following a ‘no’ vote in the weekend’s referendum on whether the Greek government should accept the terms of a bailout package from its creditors, the fate of the Greek financial system remains uncertain.

The ECB has agreed to continue Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to prop up the Greek banks, while emergency talks between Greece and its international ‘partners’ stagger into a seemingly impossible final round. Capital controls continue and preparations for a likely Grexit are underway.