NYSE says experienced trading delays
Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:07pm ET
NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The New York Stock Exchange, the largest U.S. stock exchange, said it experienced delays toward the end of Tuesday's big stock sell-off as heavy volumes tested its recently installed hybrid trading system.
"Toward the end of trading today, we experienced intermittent delays and we are assessing the situation," said NYSE spokesman Eric Ryan.
The glitch may have further complicated a major sell-off in U.S. equity markets on Tuesday, as a plunge in China's equity market fanned worries that stock valuations there are too high and some data indicated U.S. economic growth may slow.
The sell-off, the S&P 500's biggest one-day drop in almost four years, resulted in heavy volume on the NYSE, where about 2.41 billion shares changed hands, well above last year's estimated daily average of 1.84 billion.
The glitch could be an indication that NYSE's hybrid market, which integrates floor-based trading with automated capabilities, was unable to handle such large volume, analysts said.
Last month, the NYSE requested a delay in upcoming regulatory deadlines, citing delays in rolling out the hybrid market.
A technical glitch also hit the system that calculates the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> on Tuesday, but it did not affect stock prices, a spokeswoman for Dow Jones Indexes said.
With an hour left to trade, the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 500 points as it abruptly added about 200 points to its slide in late afternoon trade. |
