U.K.'s FSA has banned short selling of shares in all financial companies from midnight yesterday and for 120 days, up until January 16, in an effort to avoid sharp falls to banking stocks and the risk of speculative trading driving a commercial bank to collapse. The announcement came late yesterday afternoon, while Prime Minister Brown called for regulators to require banks and other institutions to declare off-balance-sheet liabilities. As a result, the British pound dipped below 1.8050 after peaking to an intraday high of 1.8099 just a few minutes ealier.
Al Bawaba
