South African Stocks Fall as Trading Halted for Longest Period in 2 Years

South African stocks fell, reversing an earlier gain, after a technical glitch that halted trading on Africa’s largest bourse for almost six hours, the longest delay in more than two years.

Trading was halted at about 9:26 a.m. and resumed at about 3:20 p.m. in Johannesburg. The exchange closed an hour later than usual, JSE Ltd., the operator of the bourse, said in an e- mailed statement. The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index fell 0.1 percent to 28,461.48 at the 6 p.m. close, after climbing as much as 0.9 percent once dealing had restarted.

“For us it doesn’t only result in a potential loss of revenue but also the loss of trading opportunities,” Ferdi Heyneke, an equity trader at Afrifocus Securities Ltd., said by telephone.

Technical problems led to a 1 1/2-hour delay in the opening of trade on July 12 and a postponement for 50 minutes on Nov. 30. South Africa’s stock market halted equity trading for the longest period in at least eight years on July 14, 2008, opening at 3:10 p.m. after a network problem prevented data from being disseminated. The problem affected data, including the Stock Exchange News Service and equity trading from the 9 a.m. open.

To contact the reporters on this story: Garth Theunissen in Johannesburg at gtheunissen@bloomberg.net.

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email