Taiwan bans short-selling on shares of any company

TAIPEI, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Taiwan's top financial regulator is banning investors from short-selling shares of any individual company, it said on Tuesday, in its latest move to prop up the stock market.

The move is aimed at "preventing short-sellers from depressing the market and (at) boosting investor confidence," the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement.

The ban will be imposed from Oct. 1 to Oct. 14, the statement added.

Taiwan has taken a slew of measures in the past two weeks to support the island's financial markets, after the main share index plunged as part of a global sell-off.

The latest measures go beyond what the commission had said late on Monday, when it ruled that the total amount of short-selling and securities lending of stocks for any company cannot exceed 10 percent of its outstanding shares, compared with a previous cap of 25 percent. [ID:nTP310617]

The regulator said it would also look into those spreading market talk intended to drag down stocks. (Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by David Holmes)