KARACHI, May 13: Trading was suspended at the Karachi Stock Exchange on Tuesday at around noon for nearly one and a half hours, which the bourse management attributed to technology-related problems.That was for the third time in 23 days that the hardware/software had refused to perform normally in the midst of a trading session. A statement by the bourse, to explain in some detail the reasons for suspension of trading, was not released for the press and the public and investors were generally at sea about the events that saw the market work in extraordinary ‘two-in-one’ sessions during the day. A notice for the “Members”, nonetheless, mentioned “technical problems in trading server”. Trading was extended for half an hour to compensate for the lost time.

The bulls were firmly in command at the time of breakdown, with the KSE-100 index showing a rebound of 200 plus points. Following the reopening, the trading began from zero point and at the close the aggregate of both sessions were reconciled to show 256 points gain in the 100-index for the day. It was an extraordinary day with two separate trading sessions, each starting from zero points.

KSE Managing Director Adnan Afridi, talking to Dawn, explained that in the three times during the 23 days that the breakdowns had occurred, there were dissimilar reasons. He said that there was no issue with the Karachi Automated Trading System. The first time, there had been connectivity problem for remote users and as a rule, trading is suspended if 20 per cent of terminals fail to log in. He said that policy was to provide ‘level playing’ field to all users.

The second time there were issues with ‘virtual private network’ logins. Those provide firewalls, preventing data disclosure of a market participant to other users.

And the third time, on Tuesday, the problem was with the hardware related -- trading engine. He said that the KSE had complete back-up system, without which it would not have been able to retrieve the data and begin trading afresh after the breakdown.

He denied any allegation of an intentional ‘speed-breaking’ ploy and said that he would have considered that if the reasons for the breakdown during all three times were similar in nature.

But some market participants were disillusioned with the recurring breakdowns. A stockbroker said that in a market, which now commands capitalisation of a huge $65 billion, such matters should be taken up seriously for they do impact sentiments and are not easily explainable to foreign investors.

Another participant said that it would be unwise to brush aside losses that may have been caused to stockholders. His reasoning was: “Some local investors contacted our brokerage house and placed sell orders before the commencement of the second session in the belief that market would open and end in the minus columns”.

Professor Iqbal Ismail, chairman Ace Securities, said that such issues were unheard of in international markets. “Banks would collapse, if any breakdown were to occur in international foreign exchange markets, which work 24/7,” he said.

Mr Afridi said that it was the endeavour of the Exchange to cut down on the breakdown time, though he could not assure of no further similar problems in the future. “It is all machinery,” he said.