China Times reporter Ma Xiaochao and Chen Feng reported that Beijing reports that there is always a "short selling ban" in the extreme measures to rescue the market under special times, and 2020 is no exception. A reporter from the China Times noticed that on March 13, 2020 local

China Times (chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Ma Xiaochao and Chen Feng Beijing report

In the extreme market rescue measures under the special period, there is always a "short selling ban", and 2020 is no exception.

The China Times reporter noticed that on March 13, 2020 local time, the British financial regulatory department FCA posted a special notice on its official website. The notice stated that based on relevant EU rules, it will take effect today until the end of today's trading. The FCA prohibits short selling in the following instruments, followed by a long list of stocks such as Airbus appearing on the list.

According to a FCA spokesperson, this move is not to ban short selling in the UK stock market, but to assist Italy and Spain in implementing the relevant short selling measures being taken by the stock markets of the two countries. "We have received assistance requests from regulators in Italy and Spain. Their market is banning short selling, and some short selling secondary transactions may occur in London."

The EU has regulations that as long as any member state makes a request for assistance, other member states must support the former's short selling ban on the stock market. On March 13, 69 stocks were banned from short selling in the Spanish stock market, and 85 stocks were banned from short selling in the Italian stock market, with a one-day ban.

stocks that are prohibited from short selling include bank stocks and leading companies, such as Juventus Football Club, automaker Yafite, Ferrari , Yixin Bank, Jimbali Group's beverage brands, Santander , Sabadel Bank, fashion brand Mangkelai, Zhongli Insurance , Milan Investment Bank, Bank of Seajana, and aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which are listed in Spain, France, and Germany.

The day before, on March 12 local time, affected by the spread of the epidemic and the ban on European tourism in the United States, European stock markets fell sharply across the board, and the stock markets of Spain and Italy suffered particularly heavy losses. The US stock market, which opened later than European stocks, triggered the circuit breaker on again on the same day, and finally closed down nearly 10%. All three major indexes entered the technical bear market, triggering panic in the global financial crisis.

In Europe, Italy is the country with the worst epidemic in Europe, with a cumulative number of confirmed cases exceeding 15,000, and the number of deaths has long exceeded 1,000. The epidemic in Spain is also showing accelerating. On March 13, the Spanish Prime Minister declared a national emergency to mobilize resources to the greatest extent possible to resist the new coronavirus. Earlier, the country added 1,259 new cases in one day, with a total of 4,209 confirmed cases. After the announcement of

's ban on short selling, the stock market opened on March 13, and European stock markets rose sharply across the board. Among them, the Italian FTSE MIB index once rose 15% during the session, setting the largest single-day increase this year. Data from Oriental Fortune Network showed that the index's increase narrowed to 7.12% at the close of the market, and the Spanish IBEX35 index finally closed up 3.73%.

However, the ban on short selling by Italy and West on March 13 was only valid on the same day. In Asia, where the stock market opened earlier, a six-month comprehensive ban on short selling appeared.

The China Times reporter noticed that the South Korean stock market regulatory department (FSC) posted an announcement on its official website later on March 13, announcing that it would implement a six-month ban on short selling of stocks for the three major domestic markets, Kosi, Kosdaq and Konex, starting from March 16 and ending on September 15. Earlier on the day before the

ban was issued, the South Korean stock market fell 8% in the early trading, triggering a circuit breaker. According to the South Korean Herald, the main board market Kospi and the technology board market Kosdaq fell 8% in the early trading, both triggering circuit breakers, the first time in history. The South Korean exchange suspended Kosdaq trading at 9:04 for 20 minutes, the first time since December 2016 (the reason was the warming of the North Korean crisis and concerns about global stagflation). The Kospi market suspended trading at 10:34 for 20 minutes, the first time since the 2011 "911 incident".

According to relevant reports, on the same day, the South Korean president convened a special meeting of economic and financial officials including the Minister of Finance, Korean Bank , and FSC heads, demanding that "unprecedented steps" be taken to deal with the panic caused by the epidemic. Data shows that as of 9:00 on March 13, South Korea had a total of 7,979 confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia and a total of 67 deaths.

"Short Sale Ban" was also "useful" in the global stock market in its early years in a special period. In addition to China, many European countries also issued short sales bans during the financial crisis in the United States and the European credit crisis in 2011.

An independent researcher in the global capital market, Wu Hao, showed to a reporter from the China Times, that in history, countries and regions that issued short selling orders include Australia, Austria , Belgium , Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greek , Iceland , Ireland , Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, etc.

The types of short selling orders issued by these countries include direct short selling bans or "naked short selling" bans, and also include disclosure of relevant systems that indirectly restrict short selling.

Regarding the short selling bans in Italy and Spain on March 13, Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Market.com Wilson commented that short selling institutions should not be criticized for the recent stock market turmoil. "Every time there is a problem, policy makers always like to return to the old-fashioned thinking, such as banning short selling. US regulators banned short selling during the financial crisis from 2008 to 2009, and learned during the credit crisis in Europe in 2011. This policy response is actually meaningless."

Han Qian, a professor at the School of Economics of Xiamen University, told the reporter of the China Times that there is "naked short selling" abroad, which needs to be banned in extreme cases, but not "naked short selling" should not be banned, for the sake of It can ensure a certain market liquidity and facilitate investors to stop losses.

Editor: Yan Hui Editor-in-chief: Chen Feng