Thursday March 16, 4:59 pm Eastern Time

Alert: NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) said late Thursday its after-hours ACCESS trading session was further delayed due to technical problems. "It's not up yet. I'm not sure when it will begin trading," a NYMEX spokeswoman told Reuters. Earlier, the NYMEX spokeswoman said after-hours trade in energy and metals futures was delayed but was expected to start at 4:45 p.m. (1645 EST). ACCESS trading also was delayed last Tuesday due to unspecified technical problems. ((--J Silha, New York Power Desk 212-859-1624, fax 212-859-1758, newyork.newsroom@reuters.com))

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000316/bbv.html

-- - (x@xxx.com), March 16, 2000