UniCredit And Italian Banks Are Rallying After A Strong Bond Auction And An Extended Ban On Shorting Financials

UniCredit's shares spiked earlier today, driven by reports reports that Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s wealth fund, bought a nearly 5% stake in the bank. Samruk-Kazyna has since denied the rumor, according to Bloomberg. The stock gave back some of its gains on the news.However, UniCredit is participating in a broad based rally in the Italian banking sector, and a succesful Italian bond auction this morning. This rally could in part be driven by Italian regulators' decision to extend a ban on short selling financial shares until Feb 24.The stock has been taking a real beating after UniCredit was forced to offer shares at a massive discount to market value, in an effort to raise $10 billion, to meet capital requirements.The bank's balance sheet is in horrible shape after the bank posted a net loss of €10.64 billion in the last quarter. Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:FORGET STOCKS AND BONDS: Art Has Been Crushing Equities Over The Last DecadeUniCredit Plunge Gets Worse: Italian Megabank Now Off 45% Year To DateItaly Was A Complete Disaster Today

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