Monte Paschi shares halted for excessive losses

The main entrance at the Monte dei Paschi headquarters is seen in Siena January 20, 2012.

MILAN (Reuters) - Shares in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) were suspended from trading on Tuesday morning for excessive losses following a press report about a loss linked to a derivative contract.

By 0855 GMT the stock was indicated down more than 5 percent at 0.278 euros.

Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano reported on Tuesday that a derivative contract designed by Nomura for Italy's third-biggest lender will register a loss of 220 million euros in the bank's results for 2012.

A spokesman for Monte dei Paschi declined to comment.

Nomura was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting By Danilo Masoni; editing by Stephen Jewkes)