London Stock Exchange Glitch

Bedlam · Post by **Bedlam** » 2008-09-08 02:49pm

Technical glitch hits LSE trades

The LSE said the technical problems were a rare event
Trading has closed on the London Stock Exchange after technical problems interrupted the trading system for most of the day.

The FTSE 100 share index hit 5,440.20 points shortly after 0900BST but there were no further trades until 1600, half an hour before its usual closing time.

At close of trade, the FTSE was 205.6 points higher, or 3.92%, at 5446.3.

The LSE said "connectivity issues" had meant traders had not been able to connect with the LSE trading platform.

'Durability' needed

City veteran David Buik, from BGC Partners, said the stoppage was a "shambles" that "paralysed share trading in London on what might have been the busiest day this year".

Strong trading had been predicted for London and other European markets after the US government stepped in to rescue troubled mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mr Buik also asked why the world's third largest exchange in terms of share volumes traded did not use a back-up system.

"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the LSE system is not run in duplicate. So much and so many clients rely on the LSE's durability. They cannot afford to be let down," he said.

Trading on the US-based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) futures platform was also temporarily halted on Monday.

A spokesperson for ICE - where oil, natural gas and agricultural commodities are traded - said the system was back up and running.

Orders but no trades

An incident report on the LSE website said connectivity was suspended at 0915BST. "No one can enter or delete orders at this time," the report said.

The London Stock Exchange said connectivity had been re-enabled at approximately 1145BST.

After that time, traders could enter or delete share orders, but the trades could not be executed. As a result, there were no accurate share prices.

Accurate share prices were restored at 1600 when the market began to fully function again after its break of almost seven hours.

At 1600, the system of what is called continuous trading began, where the system matches buy and sell orders automatically and executes the trades.

The LSE said it was not extending trading hours.

A similar technical problem occurred at the LSE in November last year.

At that time, the trading session was extended by an hour and a half after problems with data feeds led to incorrect prices being sent out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7603981.stm

One of the business days this year and technical faults stop the London stock exhange for most of the day. Someones going to get fired over that.

Anyone know if the technical errors are common in stockexchange systems or is it just in blighty?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-09-08 02:50pm

Could a mod edit the title so people don't panic upon reading? How about 'Glitch shuts down London Exchange'?

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2008-09-08 02:53pm

Yes, please edit the title.. I nearly had a heart attack reading it.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2008-09-08 02:53pm

Or 'Stock Exchange COMPUTERS Crash"

cosmicalstorm · Post by **cosmicalstorm** » 2008-09-08 03:27pm

I wonder if this is related to United Airlines stock being almost wiped out earlier today, I saw a brief story a couple of hours ago about it going down from $12.17 on the Nasdaq by 99.9 percent to ~1 cent

Funny day on the stock market.

Post by **Edi** » 2008-09-08 04:08pm

So, what was the original headline? "Stock Market Crash" ?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-09-08 04:14pm

Edi wrote:So, what was the original headline? "Stock Market Crash" ?

Yes, it was 'London Stock Exchange Crashes'. Which, you know, made me crap my pants.

Bedlam · Post by **Bedlam** » 2008-09-08 04:19pm

Woops, sorry about that. Oviously I wasn't thinking when I put up the title.

Kodiak · Post by **Kodiak** » 2008-09-08 07:14pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Edi wrote:So, what was the original headline? "Stock Market Crash" ?
Yes, it was 'London Stock Exchange Crashes'. Which, you know, made me crap my pants.

I was a hair away from yanking all my savings out of BofA before I called some people. Whew

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2008-09-08 08:11pm

Kodiak wrote:
CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Edi wrote:So, what was the original headline? "Stock Market Crash" ?
Yes, it was 'London Stock Exchange Crashes'. Which, you know, made me crap my pants.
I was a hair away from yanking all my savings out of BofA before I called some people. Whew

Just curious. Did you just read the title of the thread and then called people or did you read the article as well?

Kodiak · Post by **Kodiak** » 2008-09-08 08:18pm

Soontir C'boath wrote:
Kodiak wrote:
CaptainChewbacca wrote: Yes, it was 'London Stock Exchange Crashes'. Which, you know, made me crap my pants.
I was a hair away from yanking all my savings out of BofA before I called some people. Whew
Just curious. Did you just read the title of the thread and then called people or did you read the article as well?

I read financial gloom and doom last night, then the title, then when my heart calmed down, the article

Big Phil · Post by **Big Phil** » 2008-09-08 11:54pm

cosmicalstorm wrote:I wonder if this is related to United Airlines stock being almost wiped out earlier today, I saw a brief story a couple of hours ago about it going down from $12.17 on the Nasdaq by 99.9 percent to ~1 cent
Funny day on the stock market.

For fucks sake, if you're going bandwagon the economic gloom and doom, maybe you should at least post your fucking sources and perhaps telling a goddamned story and not just jumping on the pile. For fucks sake...