NASDAQ, Amsterdam and Toronto stock exchanges all experienced tech problems on Friday...

TSE system buckles under volume

TORONTO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Unprecedented high volumes of trading from the Toronto Stock Exchange's opening bell wreaked havoc on the exchange's reporting systems on Friday.

The TSE said some of its member firms, which receive their information via the Toronto Broadcast Feed, faced delays in receiving trade information after the computer system buckled under the heavy volumes.

In the first 15 minutes of trading alone, the TSE said 33.9 million issues changed hands -- four times the usual amount during that time. The exchange also said 12,500 trades were executed in the first two minutes and 33 seconds of trading at an average of 81 trades per second.

The TSE was unable to determine how many members were affected by the problems.

"There were delays for trade confirmation of the open. In some cases it was just 10 minutes. It doesn't mean the trades didn't get done. They did," said Steve Kee, a spokesman at the bourse. "It was just an exceptional day."

The high trading volumes coincided with "double-witching Friday," or the simultaneous expiration of options and futures.

Kee said trading has increased dramatically this year with a daily average of 160,000 trades, up from 60,000 this time last year. And on Thursday alone, he said, 201,000 trades were recorded.

Link

http://www.canoe.ca/MoneyNews/feb18_tsesyscrash.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 20, 2000