Watchdog to decide whether to ease bans on short selling

SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top regulator said Friday that the
financial watchdog plans to decide on whether and how to lift bans on short
selling of stocks as soon as possible.
Short selling refers to the practice in which investors sell shares by borrowing
them in anticipation of price falls. Short sellers can make profits by buying
back shares at a lower price and then returning them. Since October, South Korea
has imposed a temporary ban on short selling amid global financial turmoil.
"We are monitoring the situation and looking into the impact of the easing of the
ban," Chin Dong-soo, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told a
press conference with foreign correspondents. "We plan to decide on how to deal
with that issue as soon as possible after reviewing what would be better
options."
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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