Business lost as trading suspended at the bourse

PHOTO | FILE The Nairobi Securities Exchange.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary
He said the hitch has nothing to do with the relocation of the exchange to their Westlands office mid this year

The NSE is not an exception as technical hitches have also hit some of the prominent stock markets in the world

 By JOSHUA MASINDE
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The Nairobi Securities Exchange on Tuesday was hit by a 'technical hitch' for the second time this month leading to a day-long suspension of trading at the bourse.

Investors lost business opportunities as a result of the technical fault which affected the automated trading system (ATS). Authorities at the bourse said trading would resume on Wednesday.

“It was just a technical hitch but we are working with the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation to ensure operations are back to normal,” the bourse’s head of product development, Donald Ouma said on phone on Tuesday.

He said the hitch has nothing to do with the relocation of the exchange to their Westlands office mid this year or the anticipated upgrading of the systems at the bourse.

The NSE is planning to upgrade its systems in what could increase efficiency and enhance trading, especially with the introduction of new products like the Growth Enterprise Market Segment.

Other products like the Real Estate Investment Trusts and the Commodities Exchange are also due for introduction in the market to widen investment opportunities.

“We wish to assure you that all the relevant teams are working hand in hand to ensure resumption of market operations tomorrow,” Mr. Ouma noted.

When a technical hitch hit the NSE on October 1, investor wealth at the NSE for the first time hit Sh1.8 trillion the following day on Wednesday in panicky trading day. Equity turnover also exceeded Sh1 billion to hit Sh1.28 billion compared to Sh112 million turnover after the “serious network error” on October 1.

TECHNICAL HITCHES

The NSE is not an exception as technical hitches have also hit some of the prominent stock markets in the world.

On November 26, 2009, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) ground to a halt for several hours following a technical glitch that affected its electronic trading platform.

That was also the second time that the LSE was hit by the technical hit in September 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, halting trading for seven hours.

Separately, on August 22 this year, trading in thousands of U.S. shares ground to a halt for much of the day after a technological problem shut down trading in Nasdaq securities