WalesOnline – Last week saw the return of the credit crunch’s bogey product: short selling.
The practice was banned by the Financial Services Authority last September after it was blamed for wiping millions off the value of bank shares, betting as it did that prices would fall as the recession bit deeper.
At the end of Friday last week, on the day of its re-introduction, a familiar pattern had re-emerged. Barclays closed down some 25% (although the bank reported that its profits would be “well ahead” of the £5.3bn predicted by some forecasts), while RBS fell by 13%.
