Investors lose Sh500m as Nairobi Securities Exchange system shuts down

By James Anyanzwa

Kenya: Trading at Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) did not take place Tuesday due to a technical hitch in the automated trading system (ATS).

Analysts estimated the loss to be around Sh500 million and Sh1 billion worth of equities and bonds respectively.

“ATS was out of order for the whole day. The losses could be very heavy,” said John Kirimi, Executive Director Sterling Capital Ltd. Early this month, ATS also encountered a serious network error that resulted in halt of trading for three and half hours.

ATS, which has broken down several times, was implemented by Millennium Information Technologies of Sri Lanka at a cost of Sh70 million in 2006.

It replaced the open outcry system. In a statement Tuesday, Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) confirmed that there were no trades in the market due to the technical hitch.

“Today, October 29, there were no trades in the market due to a technical hitch,” the firm said.

“CDSC and NSE are working hand-in-hand to ensure resumption of market operations tomorrow, Wednesday October 30. We shall keep all our stakeholders appraised on any new developments. We sincerely apologise for any inconveniences.”

On Monday, the bourse opened the week with a total of 14 million shares sold, valued at Sh304 million, down from Sh744 million on a volume of 24 million shares posted last Friday.  The NSE 20 Share Index was up 4.40 points to stand at 4940.32, whereas All Share Index (NASI) shed 0.33 points to stand at 130.7.

The bond market had bonds worth Sh1.4 billion transacted. 

The banking sector had 4.5 million shares traded representing 32.2 per cent of the day’s traded volume.