The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator, has this week issued opinions agreeing to the renewal of the emergency restrictions on short selling and similar transactions by the Finanzmarktaufsicht (FMA) of Austria, the Financial Securities and Markets Authority (FSMA) of Belgium, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) of France, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) of Greece and the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) of Spain.

All five imposed restrictions in March 2020, expiring in April, and all five decided to renew. Following co-ordination by ESMA, the renewal process has been aligned and the renewal decisions will all be in place until May 18 with the possibility of a further renewal.

ESMA says it considers that the proposed measures are justified by current adverse events or developments which constitute a serious threat to market confidence and financial stability, and that they are appropriate and proportionate to address the existing threat to market confidence in those five markets.

How do I enable cookies in my browser?

Internet Explorer
1. Click the Tools button (or press ALT and T on the keyboard), and then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Privacy tab
3. Move the slider away from 'Block all cookies' to a setting you're comfortable with.

Firefox
1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Tools menu and select Options...
2. Select the Privacy panel.
3. Set Firefox will: to Use custom settings for history.
4. Make sure Accept cookies from sites is selected.

Safari Browser
1. Click Safari icon in Menu Bar
2. Click Preferences (gear icon)
3. Click Security icon
4. Accept cookies: select Radio button "only from sites I visit"

Chrome
1. Click the menu icon to the right of the address bar (looks like 3 lines)
2. Click Settings
3. Click the "Show advanced settings" tab at the bottom
4. Click the "Content settings..." button in the Privacy section
5. At the top under Cookies make sure it is set to "Allow local data to be set (recommended)"

Opera
1. Click the red O button in the upper left hand corner
2. Select Settings -> Preferences
3. Select the Advanced Tab
4. Select Cookies in the list on the left side
5. Set it to "Accept cookies" or "Accept cookies only from the sites I visit"
6. Click OK

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator, has this week issued opinions agreeing to the renewal of the emergency restrictions on short selling and similar transactions by the Finanzmarktaufsicht (FMA) of Austria, the Financial Securities and Markets Authority (FSMA) of Belgium, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) of France, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) of Greece and the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) of Spain.

All five imposed restrictions in March 2020, expiring in April, and all five decided to renew. Following co-ordination by ESMA, the renewal process has been aligned and the renewal decisions will all be in place until May 18 with the possibility of a further renewal.

ESMA says it considers that the proposed measures are justified by current adverse events or developments which constitute a serious threat to market confidence and financial stability, and that they are appropriate and proportionate to address the existing threat to market confidence in those five markets.