UPDATE: NZX trading halted over system glitch
(Updated with comments)
By Suze Metherell
June 27 (BusinessDesk) - All trading on the New Zealand stock exchange has been halted until further notice as the stock
market operator deals with a technical issue.
Trading was halted half an hour into the morning session and had initially been expected to resume at 10:45am after a
"restart to the message gateway" and connectivity was confirmed, and later targeted an 11:25am time to resume trading
before saying it was "experiencing ongoing technical difficulties" and would stay "on halt until further notice."
The issue is a FIX messaging problem, and is the second technical glitch that has caused the stock market operator to
halt trading this month.
"It's not that it happened, it is the regularity of it happening," Brian Gaynor, executive director at Milford Asset
Management told BusinessDesk. "It happens around the world, you get these things, but it is happening too often with the
NZX and I think it dents confidence in the way the organisation is run. It shouldn't have these kind of problems.
"They really need to scrutinise and investigate what's wrong, and what they can do to improve it," Gaynor said.
In April, opening trade on the market was delayed 15 minutes, without further explanation.
The trading halt comes in a week that saw two new listings on the NZX, Serko and Gentrack, while Hirepool had been set
to list next month but has since pulled its inital public offer. Other upcoming listings include Scales Corp and IkeGPS.
DeutscheCraigs chief executive Brett Shepherd, whose firm has managed several of the recent IPOs, said he didn't think
the NZX's technical issues would deter companies from listing, or offshore institutions investing in the local market.
(BusinessDesk)