UPDATE 1-CVS and SL Green added to NYSE short-sale ban

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NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Big U.S. drugstore chain CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) and office property owner SL Green (SLG.N) were added to the New York Stock Exchange's list of financial companies that are not permitted to be shorted.

Other companies included in the ban as of Thursday were Willis Group Holdings (WSH.N), MVC Capital (MVC.N), Atlas Energy Resources LLC (ATN.N), UDR Inc (UDR.N) and Lender Processing Services (LPS.N).

No companies were removed from the list, which now expands to 299 for the NYSE. It was initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an attempt to crack down on short-selling and calm the turmoil in global markets, which led to wild price swings in the stocks of major financial firms.

Short-sellers borrow shares they consider overvalued and sell them. If the price drops, they repurchase the shares, return them and pocket the difference. (Reporting by Christopher Kaufman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)