Monte dei Paschi returns to negotiation after the publication with which Consob has decided to ban short selling on the title for today and tomorrow.
During the session, trading was interrupted several times with decreases in the stock of around 14%. MPS shares are currently down 15% after hitting a 16% decline.
The president of the National Commission for the Company and the Stock Exchange, Giuseppe Vegas, also spoke on the vicissitudes of the Sienese bank, announcing the opening of an investigation into the market movements that caused the collapse of the Sienese stock.
Responding to a question relating to the very heavy sell-off that hit the shares, Vegas stated that: "There are Italian and foreign hands, we will see at the end of the day who has sold". Despite this, the number one of Consob assured that the Commission is implementing a "monitoring of MPS and other banks". The urgent intervention decided by the Commission, remarked Vegas, was taken after the loss exceeded the threshold of 10% and only for tomorrow, according to the European rules. The stop to short selling on MPS shares had already been applied by Consob on the shares of Banca di Rocca Salimbeni ten days ago.
The shares are currently changing hands at 0,77 euros. The Bank is now worth "only" 2,2 billion euro, a level very far from the 3 billion capital increase carried out last June.
