JOHANNESBURG - The JSE failed to inspire yesterday, shedding nearly 1 percent after a two-hour delayed start to trade due to a “technical glitch”.
The local bourse, which has been prone to technical problems in the past few years, said the incident was unfortunate.
A spokesperson for the JSE, Pheliswa Mayekiso, said the delay was due to certain order information not being visible in the equity-market trading system.
“In order to rectify this, the JSE initiated a restart of the trading system. The JSE’s derivatives market was not impacted. The JSE equity market went into continuous trading at 11am,” Mayekiso said.
The all share index closed the day 0.73 percent down at 57 237 points, while the blue chip Top 40 index shed 0.63 percent to 51 005 points.
The weak rand also saw financial stocks plunge 2 percent, led by Standard Bank, which closed the trading session 3.52 percent lower at R190.17, while FirstRand lost 2.60 percent to close at R58.93. Barclays Africa shed 2.40 percent to close at R150.40 and Nedbank was 2.25 percent weaker to close at R259. Aeon Investment Management chief investment officer Asief Mohamed said the JSE was running the risk of tainting its reputation.
“It is getting a bit embarrassing for the JSE to have these regular ‘technical glitches’,” Mohamed said.