BTA
28-05-2008, 06:15 PM
|
A technical
glitch sent the HCM City Stock Exchange into darkness yesterday, causing a
suspension in the day’s trading and snapping a 14-day market losing streak.
Yesterday afternoon, the
exchange’s website stated that today’s session would also be delayed while
the error was repaired.
This has been authorised
by the State Securities Commission.
The exchange’s
management board was unable to give further information about the nature of the
technical error, but they promised to fix the problem and restore normal trading
as soon as possible.
The VN-Index remains fixed
at Monday’s level of 420.51.
As brokers were told to
cease trading, rumours abounded that the technical error was a deliberate move
by the exchange to interrupt trading, as yesterday’s trading session began
with sell orders swamping buy orders, a pattern that has been repeated daily for
the past three weeks.
"This session would
have seen another downturn in the VN-Index if this error hadn’t taken
place," said Phuong Ha, a client of An Binh Securities Co.
Ha voiced the rumour
circulating among many investors, saying she suspected the technical error was a
pretext by market managers to delay trading for a few days and prevent a market
meltdown.
She added that both the
HCM City and Ha Noi exchanges were considering whether trading would be resumed
at the former, wider daily trading bands of 5 and 10 per cent, respectively.
In Ha Noi yesterday,
trading proceeded normally, with the HASTC-Index losing another 1.83 per cent of
its value to close at 123.17.
Trading volume was a
meagre 555,900 shares, for a total turnover of VND15.73 billion (US$983,125).
There were only three
gainers, while the remaining codes either declined or showed no trading
activity.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB)
was the most active share on the northern market, with 80,100 shares changing
hands.
A technical
glitch sent the HCM City Stock Exchange into darkness yesterday, causing a
suspension in the day’s trading and snapping a 14-day market losing streak.
Yesterday afternoon, the
exchange’s website stated that today’s session would also be delayed while
the error was repaired.
This has been authorised
by the State Securities Commission.
The exchange’s
management board was unable to give further information about the nature of the
technical error, but they promised to fix the problem and restore normal trading
as soon as possible.
The VN-Index remains fixed
at Monday’s level of 420.51.
As brokers were told to
cease trading, rumours abounded that the technical error was a deliberate move
by the exchange to interrupt trading, as yesterday’s trading session began
with sell orders swamping buy orders, a pattern that has been repeated daily for
the past three weeks.
"This session would
have seen another downturn in the VN-Index if this error hadn’t taken
place," said Phuong Ha, a client of An Binh Securities Co.
Ha voiced the rumour
circulating among many investors, saying she suspected the technical error was a
pretext by market managers to delay trading for a few days and prevent a market
meltdown.
She added that both the
HCM City and Ha Noi exchanges were considering whether trading would be resumed
at the former, wider daily trading bands of 5 and 10 per cent, respectively.
In Ha Noi yesterday,
trading proceeded normally, with the HASTC-Index losing another 1.83 per cent of
its value to close at 123.17.
Trading volume was a
meagre 555,900 shares, for a total turnover of VND15.73 billion (US$983,125).
There were only three
gainers, while the remaining codes either declined or showed no trading
activity.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB)
was the most active share on the northern market, with 80,100 shares changing
hands.