Technical glitch disrupts trading on Bursa Derivatives

PETALING JAYA: It was deja vu for Bursa Malaysia Bhd as a “technical glitch” credited for disrupting trading on the stock market barely three months ago re-emerged to delay the opening of the derivatives market yesterday.

Trading resumed in the afternoon after being suspended for the entire morning session.

“The opening of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was delayed due to a technical problem detected this morning,” the stock exchange operator said in a statement released at 1.15pm yesterday. “The problem has been resolved and the trading timetable of the respective derivative products for the afternoon session remains unchanged.”

Chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff said Bursa Malaysia encountered a system connectivity problem between the derivatives trading engine and all the derivatives brokers’ trading front-end systems.

“After resolving the connectivity problem, the exchange then undertook steps to ensure data integrity,” he said in the statement.

The glitch disrupted trading in crude palm oil futures, the global benchmark for CPO.

Futures broker G.M. Teoh said: “This does not look good in the eyes of the international trading community. Traders everywhere are asking when will Bursa stop using this (technical glitch) excuse.”

Palm oil trader Jim Teh echoed Teoh’s remarks, saying the delayed opening of the derivatives market created a bad impression in the eyes of both local and international investors.

“This is the second time a technical glitch has disrupted trading on Bursa Malaysia; it is ridiculous. It will definitely affect the confidence of local and foreign investors.

“With the technology we have today, this shouldn’t be happening. They (Bursa) should have some kind of back-up to ensure something like this does not happen,” Teh said.

Trading in equities and bonds, meanwhile, was unaffected yesterday.

On July 3, Bursa had to suspend two trading sessions following a computer hard disk failure. The halt fuelled concerns the stock exchange’s system was unreliable. The then chief information officer Yew Kim Keong took responsibility for the trading halt and resigned.