Greek regulator extends short-selling ban to Oct 31

ATHENS, July 24 (Reuters) - Greece's securities regulator extended a short-selling ban on the Athens stock exchange on Tuesday for an additional three months to Oct. 31, citing poor market conditions and similar moves in Spain and Italy.

This is the fourth time that Greece's Capital Market Commission has extended the ban since August 2011, when it introduced the measure to try to stop a stock market crash accelerated by the country's debt crisis.

However, the ban did not prevent Greek stocks from falling further and hitting a 23-year low earlier this year. Banks have been particularly hard hit by worries over their capital base and fears that Greece may leave the euro zone.

"The board of directors, taking into consideration the conditions in the Greek and European capital markets as well as the recent short-selling bans decided by the Spanish and the Italian supervisory authorities ... decided to extend the ban on the Athens Stock Exchange until October 31," the regulator said. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Harry Papachristou; Editing by Louise Ireland)