June 28 (Bloomberg) -- A computer glitch that sent erroneous orders to the New York Stock Exchange from Fidelity Investments delayed the start of trading for three stocks by more than 90 minutes.

The NYSE didn't open trading in shares of Wyeth, Jefferies Group Inc. and AT&T Inc. until after 11 a.m. in New York, instead of the usual 9:30 a.m. Trading in Jefferies resumed at 11:05 a.m. and AT&T began 23 minutes later. Wyeth resumed at 12:34 p.m.

Fidelity Capital Markets sent the orders through Lava Trading Inc., a routing firm owned by Citigroup Inc., Fidelity spokesman Adam Banker said. Closely held Fidelity, based in Boston, is the world's largest mutual-fund manager.

``A technology malfunction that sent erroneous orders from one client to the market has been identified and appropriate remedial action has been taken,'' said Stephen Cohen, a spokesman for New York-based Citigroup.

The problem was identified by NYSE specialists responsible for matching trades in the three stocks and the brokerage placing the orders was notified, said exchange spokesman Richard Adamonis. The Big Board is owned by NYSE Euronext.

Fidelity's brokerage unit ``electronically transmitted several small orders accurately into the Lava routing system,'' Banker said. ``Once we recognized that there was a problem with these orders we immediately stopped transmitting orders.''

Banker wouldn't disclose how many orders were sent or their value.

At one point, the exchange had orders to buy shares of Wyeth for as much as $80, or 40 percent higher than its closing price yesterday, said Michael Rutigliano, a floor broker and a managing director at WJB Capital Group Inc.

``The customer who generated this order could potentially have lost hundreds of millions of dollars if these orders had been executed,'' Rutigliano said. ``This is a text-book case of the NYSE structure working.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Kearns in New York at jkearns3@bloomberg.net; Edgar Ortega in New York at ebarrales@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 28, 2007 18:29 EDT