Nasdaq systems fail briefly amid record volumes
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq, the nation's
largest electronic stock market, said Tuesday technical
glitches shut down its computer systems for about 20 minutes,
paralyzing trading during a day that saw unprecedented share
volume.
The problems arose as the market processed a record number
of shares -- 1.48 billion -- after the U.S. Federal Reserve
raised short-term interest rates for the third time this year,
but signaled it was unlikely to boost rates again in the near
future. Investors responded by bidding up the prices of U.S.
stocks, and the Nasdaq composite index hit a record close.
Nasdaq's system stopped working for 17 minutes from 3:40
p.m. through 3:57 p.m. (2040 GMT through 2057 GMT) -- three
minutes before the regular close, Nasdaq said in a statement.
The shares of the world's highest-priced technology
companies, such as Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> and Cisco Systems
Inc. <CSCO.O>, trade on Nasdaq.
Nasdaq attributed the glitches to "technical problems" that
disrupted its trade reporting and quote systems. Officials were
not immediately available to elaborate.
Nasdaq resurrected its systems in time to keep them open
from 4 p.m. until 6.30 p.m. Recently, Nasdaq decided to keep
its pricing systems open until 6.30, even though it still
officially shut its own last trading session at 4 p.m.
"It was down for 20 minutes. It came up for a few seconds
at the end, but then went back down," said James Volk,
co-director of institutional trading at D.A. Davidson and Co.,
of Portland, Ore.
Some traders linked the breakdown to the record share
volumes.
"Basically, around 3:35 (p.m.), the system just went down.
Maybe it was overloaded," said a Nasdaq trader, who wanted to
remain anonymous. "I called Nasdaq and they said it was
systemwide."
Nelson Gold, a trader in Nasdaq-listed stocks at Wachovia
Securities in Atlanta, took the system glitch in stride.
"It's a little traumatic when you're trying to do
business," Gold said. "But it's not the end of the world."
REUTERS
Rtr 17:22 11-16-99 |
