[Fair use for education and research purpose only]

Title: Glitch Stalls London Market Report

Story Filed: Monday, April 03, 2000 9:39 AM EDT

LONDON (AP) -- Share prices were lower on the London Stock Exchange

Monday afternoon when the main share index resumed working after being out

of action for more than four hours because of a computer fault.

Around 2 p.m., the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share

index was down 67.3 points at 6,472.9.

At midday, the index which tracks the value of Britain's top 100 shares had shown unchanged from Friday's close of 6,540.2 because of the computer fault.

The fault also stalled other indices, but individual share prices were

available.

FTSE International, the company responsible for compiling the indices,

and Reuters said there had been a problem with the Reuters electronic feed.

Analysts said private investors were likely more troubled by the glitch than traders who still had swift access to individual share prices.

Are you buying on a day when the market has gone up or down a hundred

points?'' said Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at stockbrokers Greig

Middleton. On a day like today you don't know if its a good day or not.''

Copyright ) 2000 Associated Press Information Services, all rights reserved.

http://library.northernlight.com/EA20000403950000018.html?cb=200&dx=2006&sc=0#doc

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 03, 2000

Answers

Dealers in difficulties over FTSE techno glitch City dealers were left shooting in the dark today as technology glitches meant there was no FTSE-100 Index price available. Other indices hit included the FTSE-250 and the FTSE Small Cap Index for smaller companies and the new TechMark-100 of technology stocks.

One frustrated dealer called the breakdown "a debacle" and said the problem was hitting the number of trades going through.

"It's a disgrace that the world's financial centre can't run such crucial systems."

A spokeswoman for FTSE International, the company responsible for compiling the indices, said that a problem with the electronic feed from information group Reuters was to blame.

All traders' screens had been affected by the problem and there was no telling when the price feed would be restored, she said.Reuters confirmed the problem was at their end.

At mid-morning a spokesman said: "We do not know where the problem lies but the feed is starting to come through and we hope to have a full service very soon."

Dealers reported share prices were mixed with risers slightly outweighing losers on the day. Welcome to ITN Online, Britain's leading multimedia news site. If you are a first time visitor you will find up to the minute coverage of breaking sports stories and today's other news stories from ITN's reporters in Britain and around the world: click here. Also visit Desktop News to receive your own personalised news and video to your email address at the time you want.

http://www.itn.co.uk/Business/bus20000403/040308bu.htm

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 04, 2000.

More on shut down in the middle of the article. ISSUE 1775 Tuesday 4 April 2000 Microsoft drags Nasdaq down 250 By Andrew Cave in New York and Suzy Jagger in London

International: Judge finds Microsoft guilty of crushing its rivals

THE sell-off on America's technology-laden Nasdaq stock market intensified yesterday when it plunged more than 250 points amid a 15pc fall in the value of Microsoft, its second-largest constituent. The plunge followed a 7.9pc decline on Nasdaq last week, the worst weekly performance in its history, and put the index on target for its biggest ever one-day points fall.

Microsoft, weighed down by a failure to reach a settlement over the weekend in its anti-trust trial by the US government, was down $15 13/16 to $90 7/16 by early afternoon, reducing its market capitalisation by $81 billion (#50 billion) to $472 billion. The software giant's stock saw the heaviest trading of any New York share and its 9pc weighting depressed the Nasdaq Composite index overall.

New York technology nerves undermined London's telecom, internet and computing stocks, dragging the techMARK 100 down 247.4 to 4083.31 and FTSE-100 index down 78.1 points to end the day at 6462.1.

However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which also counts Microsoft among its members, had another good day as funds continued to flow from new to "old economy" stocks. By early afternoon, the Dow was up by 205 points and would have been 75 points higher but for share price falls at Microsoft and at Intel, which was $3 down at $130.

Dealers told the same story in London, with high-yielding value stocks chalking up gains at the expense of technology shares. Banks, pharmaceuticals and brewers made headway as computer services group CMG lost almost a fifth of its value to close at #43.27. E-commerce security group Baltimore ended down 660p to #79.40, having fallen around 40pc in three weeks.

City traders' problems were also compounded after a technical glitch meant that the FTSE-100 index of leading shares was unable to be updated until lunchtime. Reuters, the media and financial news group, held up its hands, admitting that "a communications problem" in its systems had forced dealers to trade in the dark for four and a half hours, unable to see the overall value of London's blue-chip index.

A number of dealers were also uncertain whether stock prices on their dealing screens were updating in early trading. Reuters, which supplies around half of the City's dealing desks with trading screens, yesterday promised a "full inquiry" into the fiasco. A Reuters spokesman said: "This is being taken very seriously and we have put a lot of resources into what was happening today."

One market-maker at a large European investment bank based in the City said: "It was the last thing we needed in a market this volatile. You need to be able to see what is going on and to know that the prices on the screen are up to date and supposed to be there."

Reuters confirmed that some bid and offer share prices displayed on screens "were not absolutely right" within the first 90 minutes of trading and could either have been "Friday's closing price or just old ones".

It is understood that the London Stock Exchange, which supplies basic trading data to Reuters, will seek reassurances about the robustness of Reuters' systems to ensure that the market can rely on having the FTSE-100 index updated during market hours.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et? ac=002296490135592&rtmo=Q0awQxSR&atmo=lllllljx&pg=/et/00/4/4/cnmkt04.h tml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 04, 2000.