On 19 September 2016, ASX experienced a technical issue that prevented the market from opening at its scheduled time of 10am. The primary issue arose from a hardware failure in the main database used by the equities trading system, ASX Trade. 

This had a number of knock-on consequences throughout the day that impacted the proper functioning of the trading platform and the operation of the market.  These included a delay to the market open and the decision to close the market early.

Participants and the market more broadly were updated throughout the course of the day.  This included regular communication via the trading platform, telephone, email, social media and the ASX website.

ASX is continuing to investigate the root cause of the issue. A full detailed incident report will be provided to Participants later this week. ASX will also schedule a customer forum next week to discuss the operational impacts, the communication process, and preventative actions.

The trading platform will be available as normal on Tuesday 20^th September.

A high level summary of what happened is set out below. 

1. At 9.45am ASX announced the market would not open on schedule and was placed into Enquire.  This followed ASX and a number of Participants having experienced issues accessing securities information on the trading platform.

2. At 10:54am, ASX announced that the market would be placed in Pre-Open at 11.10am with a staggered opening commencing at 11.30am.

3. Groups 1-3 (securities in the alphabet range A-M) transitioned into Pre-Open and Open as expected.

4. Due to an operational error, the opening of Group 4 (securities N-R) and Group 5 (securities S-Z) were impacted.

5. Group 4 incorrectly opened at 11.10am and remained open for a brief period during which time a number of trades occurred. All trades during this period were cancelled. Group 4 was placed into Enquire at 11:11am, and after ASX had communicated with all Participants impacted by the cancellations, was placed in Pre-Open at 1.00pm and Open at 1.20pm.

6. Group 5 did not open as advised and was rescheduled to Pre-Open at 11.40am and Open at 12pm.

7. Between approximately 11.30am-11:40am a number of customers were not receiving trade confirmations on a subset of securities.  This issue was resolved at 11:41am.

8. The market operated as normal until approximately 1.43pm, when the trading platform experienced a secondary issue that meant that trading was not available for a subset of securities.

9. At 2.05pm ASX placed the entire market back into Enquire.

10. At 3.35pm ASX announced that the market would not re-open and that there would be no CSPA.

11. At 5.20pm ASX announced that closing prices were determined to be the last price traded on the ASX market.

What do I need to do by when?

Participants are advised to perform a full order book query on Tuesday 20th September to confirm their current order book state prior to market open.

Need more information?

Issued by

Eloise Wett – Acting Group Executive Operations

Contact information

Eloise Wett
+61 (02)  9227 0751
eloise.wett@asx.com.au

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