ASX suspends trading due to ‘embarrassing’ technical issues

Share trading on the Australian stock exchange was halted for much of today following a morning of technical difficulties.

The market was delayed at the open this morning and started trading at 11:30am, but companies beginning with the letters N to R were put on hold for another two hours.

At 2:30pm, another glitch left traders in limbo and shut down the session for the rest of the day.

Exchange operator ASX tweeted at 2.23pm AEST that trade in equities had been halted, with more information to come in due course.

It later said that all transactions made in a 43-second window between 11.10.53 AEST and 11.11.36 AEST would be cancelled due to an operational error.

"The transactions between these times are the only transactions that will be cancelled," the ASX said in a statement.

Traders have said such issues put into question the “confidence and credibility” of the ASX.

“It’s very embarrassing given the size of the Australian market,” Invast Global analyst Peter Esho said.

“It’s also one of the markets which opens up the trading week – so global markets look to the Australian session.”

Treasurer Scott Morrison said today’s episode was one of the issues with dealing with a 21^st century economy.

“We are more reliant on these systems than we ever have been,” he said.

The ASX has said it is now working with its technical provider and will update the market before tomorrow’s open.