China police, regulators launch joint probe into 'vicious short-selling'

[BEIJING] Chinese police and security regulators launched a joint probe on Thursday into "vicious short-selling" on the country's plunging stock markets, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Short-selling involves selling an asset the trader does not own in anticipation of a fall in its price.

It is not necessarily illegal, but Xinhua said the move showed authorities were "about to crack down on operations that are in violation of the law and regulations in a heavy-handed manner".

AFP