ASX suffers hours-long outage

17 November 2020
| By Laura Dew |
image
image
expand image

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) was frozen for several hours yesterday after the launch of a new trading platform caused software issues.

The index was first frozen at around 10.30am and remained closed for the rest of the day.

An initial statement from the market said: “The ASX equity market is currently paused and there is no trading while we investigate market data issues. ASX apologises for the disruption and is working to rectify the issue as soon as possible”.

A later update at 3pm said the issue had been identified and it was working on a resolution that would allow the exchange to open on Tuesday.

“A software issue limited to the trading of multiple securities in a single order (combination trading) created inaccurate market data,” it said.

“Today was the go-live for the refreshed ASX Trade system, which is the trading platform for ASX’s equity market. ASX, our technology provider Nasdaq, customers and independent specialist third parties conducted extensive testing for over a year, including four dress rehearsals, in preparation for today’s go-live.”

Dominic Stevens, managing director of the ASX, said: “The outage falls short of the high standards we set ourselves and the standards others expect of us.

“Notwithstanding the extensive testing and rehearsals, and the involvement of our technology provider, ASX accepts responsibility. The obligation to get this right and provide a reliable and resilient trading system for the market rests with us.”

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission described the outage as a "significant concern" and said it would be requesting a full incident report from the ASX on how it occurred.

"ASIC views outages of this nature with significant concern. It has had a significant impact on the market including market participants and investors.

"Well-functioning financial market infrastructure is critical to the integrity and reputation of the Australian equity market and the trust and confidence investors have in it."

The ASX 200 was up 1.3% before the close with the top stock being Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield which was up 9.2% and NewsCorp which was up 3.8% while the biggest faller was Skycity Entertainment Group which fell 4%.

According to FE Analytics, the ASX 200 had lost 1.5% since the start of the year to 13 November.

Performance of ASX 200 since start of 2020 to 13 November 2020

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

GG

So shareholders lose a dividend plus have seen the erosion of value. Qantas decides to clawback remuneration from Alan ...

2 months 1 week ago
Denise Baker

This is why I left my last position. There was no interest in giving the client quality time, it was all about bumping ...

2 months 1 week ago
gonski

So the Hayne Royal Commission has left us with this. What a sad day for the financial planning industry. Clearly most ...

2 months 1 week ago

A Sydney-based financial adviser has been banned from providing financial services in the interest of consumer protection after failing to act on conduct concerns. ...

3 weeks 3 days ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a $250 million Sydney fund manager, one of two AFSL cancellations announced by the corporate regulator....

3 weeks 1 day ago

Having divested its advice business in August, AMP is undergoing restructuring in at least four other departments amid a cost simplification program....

2 weeks 5 days ago