Singapore stock exchange shutes by technical glitch

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s stock exchange suffered a major technical breakdown on Thursday, leaving investors unable to trade for half a day. The bourse said the suspension, which began at 11:38 a.m. local time, was caused by duplicated trade confirmation messages.

SGX failed in two attempts to reopen the market, after saying it would restart trading at 2 p.m. and then 4 p.m.

“If they don’t get it going today then people are going to be very upset,” said Andrew Sullivan, managing director of sales trading with Haitong International Securities Group Ltd. in Hong Kong, before SGX said trading wouldn’t resume for the day.

“It obviously hurts their credibility and their reputation as being an international global market that can cope under every situation.” It’s the second malfunction at SGX’s systems in the past year.