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From the Press Association

Probe Launched Into Stock Exchange Collapse

From the Press Association Wednesday April 5, 2000 6:17 pm

The Financial Services Authority is investigating the collapse of Stock Exchange trading systems which left millions of investors unable to trade.

It said: "The FSA sees the failure of major trading systems to open as a serious matter that requires a prompt and thorough response."

It will work with the London Stock Exchange to examine what changes and back-up arrangements need to be made.

The FSA said it had already been helping the Stock Exchange during the day, which saw the worst ever computer glitch to hit the London markets.

Dealers were unable to trade for nearly eight hours as the systems providing share prices and values for indices such as the FTSE-100 went dead.

The gremlins struck on the last day of the financial year - the busiest trading session for private investors keen to balance their share portfolios to minimise capital gains tax.

Trading, which should have started at 8am, was suspended until 3.30pm, just an hour before the market was due to close.

The Stock Exchange announced it was extending trading until 6.30pm to help make up for the failure.

Dealers reported an immediate frenzy of activity when prices started up again as they struggled to place orders before the midnight tax deadline.

The problem was caused by a fault in the electronic feed that sends prices from the Exchange to dealers screens.

-- - (x@xxx.com), April 05, 2000

Answers

And on a day when the NASDAQ hasd a 13.5% fluctuation? Wo. Can anyone recall those querries on the oposite of "synergy"? Wheneverythingfallsapart at the same time ....?

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), April 05, 2000.

Squirrel Hunter-

Are you thinking perhaps of the Third Corollary to Murphy's Law?

"Events are never isolated-anything that goes wrong will inevitably screw up something else."

-- Sam (Wtrmkr52@aol.com), April 05, 2000.

http://live.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei=1669557&ern=y

Toronto stock market follows London with glitch

Lydia Zajc

04/05/00

TORONTO, April 5 (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada's largest bourse, had a systems breakdown two minutes before its usual 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) close on Wednesday, the same day the London Stock Exchange suffered one of its worst technical failures. The Toronto bourse issued a statement saying it shut the market at 3:58 p.m. because of ``a system software failure.''

The trading system glitch prevented the usual half-hour wrap-up between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. that allows participants to trade stocks at the closing prices and tie up loose ends, spokesman Steve Stojanovski said.

``The TSE decided that the last sale trading session would be cancelled since participating organisations were unable to complete their orders within the last minute of trading,'' the statement said.

The London Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it would extend trading by two hours to 6:30 p.m (1730 GMT) after unspecified technical difficulties kept it from opening for about eight hours. It finally opened at 3:45 p.m. London time, instead of the usual 8 a.m.

Dealers were outraged by the problems, which were the second this week.

Toronto's disruptions come after substantial breakdowns on March 7 that left the market halted for more than 2-1/2 hours during the session.

Irwin Michael, portfolio manager at ABC Funds, said his company was caught by the gremlin on Wednesday and saw some trades quashed. ``It's happened at inopportune times and unexpectedly, and tests investors' patience,'' particularly at a time when the market has been so skittish and frenetic, Michael said.

On Wednesday the Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark 300 composite index had wobbled from negative to positive several times, finally ending 84.69 points higher at 9226.53 points.

On Tuesday it plunged nearly 700 points -- its biggest intraday fall -- but staged a partial recovery, finishing the session down 233.09 points, or 2.5 percent, at 9141.64.

($1-$1.45 Canadian)

((Lydia Zajc, Reuters Toronto Bureau (416) 941-8109, or e-mail lydia.zajc+reuters.com))

-- Another (stock@exchange.glitch), April 06, 2000.