South Korea Extends Ban on Short-Selling Amid Virus Flareup
- Set to end Sept. 15, ban will be extended for six more months
- Authorities cite rising market volatility due to the pandemic
A dealing room in Seoul, South Korea.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
South Korean regulators extended a ban on short-selling of shares listed on some exchanges for another six months, as the nation grapples with the vagaries of the coronavirus outbreak.
Betting with borrowed shares will be prohibited for stocks on the benchmark Kospi, tech-heavy Kosdaq and small-cap Konex index until March 15, 2021, the Financial Services Commission said in an emailed statement on Thursday. The initial ban, from March 16-Sept. 15, was imposed after the Kospi plunged more than 8% on March 13 amid a surge in virus cases, triggering a circuit breaker for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S.