Shutdown paralyses Nasdaq

by **Cals** Sat 24 Aug 2013, 23:24

Published: Saturday August 24, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday August 24, 2013 MYT 7:35:48 AM
Shutdown paralyses Nasdaq

NEW YORK: Trading in thousands of US stocks ground to a halt for much of Thursday after an unexplained technical problem shut down trading in Nasdaq securities, the latest prominent disruption to the operations of US markets.
Nasdaq resumed trading at around 1925 GMT, after a shutdown for three hours and 11 minutes in such familiar names as Apple Inc, Facebook Inc, Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and about 3,200 other companies.
The shutdown was the longest in recent memory, and prompted US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Mary Jo White to call for a meeting of Wall Street leaders to help ensure the “continuous and orderly” functioning of securities markets.
“Any brokerage firm gets paid by executing orders,” said Sal Arnuk, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. “So yes, we are frustrated, and this hurts us, it hurts the market and it hurts public confidence.”
Late on Thursday, Nasdaq’s parent Nasdaq OMX Group Inc said it halted trading after learning that the securities information processor, or SIP, which consolidates stock prices, was not disseminating price quotations.
It said a “connectivity issue” between an unnamed exchange participant and the SIP caused the breakdown, and that the cause has been “identified and addressed”.
Nasdaq also said the technical issues were resolved within 30 minutes and that it worked with other exchanges, regulators and market participants to ensure an orderly resumption of trading.
“Nasdaq OMX will work with other exchanges that are members of the SIP to investigate the issues… and we will support any necessary steps to enhance the platform,” it said.
The problems surfaced at 1614 GMT, when all traffic through Nasdaq stopped abruptly. During the shutdown, trading in shares not listed on Nasdaq continued, but transactions could not be executed on the Nasdaq platform. Options trading was also halted.
The Nasdaq index closed up 1.1%, higher than where it was before the halt. — Reuters