NSE trading comes to a halt as 'glitch' stops price updates

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) halted trading around 11.40am on Wednesday following a technical hitch, resulting in cancellation of equity open orders, futures and option and currency futures.

Meanwhile, CNBC TV18 reported that NSE has extended trading till 5pm.

The problem was detected when live price quotes of spot Nifty and Bank Nifty indexes stopped updating. The index is currently frozen at 14,820.45-level up 112.65 points or 0.77 percent. NSE got complaints from retail traders, following which it announced that work is on to restore its systems.

“We are working on restoring the systems as soon as possible. In view of the above, all the segments have been closed at 11:40 and will be restored as soon as issue is resolved,” NSE posted on Twitter. “NSE has multiple telecom links with two service providers to ensure redundancy. We have received communication from both the telecom service providers that there are issues with their links due to which there is an impact on NSE system,” it added.

Mohandas Pai, former NSE board member, said, “I agree that it’s a cause of worry. The hot standby should come up in 45 minutes and if that doesn’t come by the second standby should come up because there is standby to a standby; the entire architecture is extremely robust, the best minds in the world and the best minds in India have worked on that. So let us wait to see what happens. Yes, I understand the anxiety of all the traders; they are anxious about money, settlement etc. I am sure SEBI will come with a protocol and will make sure that there is a soft-landing. We must understand that NSE and BSE are the best in class institutions globally. We must give them the benefit of doubt and not condemn them.”

ICICI Direct and Angel Broking told its clients that on NSE’s intimation all pending orders will be automatically cancelled when market re-opens.

Social media was abuzz with news of the glitch. A user tweeted: “Buffett said let them close down the exchange for 10 years. And now we are just 1 hour into it. Hope @NSEIndia doesn’t take Buffett too seriously.”

Another user said: “I am remembering today the Russian market shutdowns in 1998: Russian authorities would wait for Europe to open, see if markets were Green, if yes, open Russia for trading. Else keep it shut. Today’s, Asia market action is ugly….”