The technical glitches that caused the southern bourse to shut down for two days have finally been fixed. Securities firms said that they could have lost an estimated $1.2 million in commissions as a result of the closure.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) has made an announcement yesterday evening that its trading system is back on track after a two-day shutdown on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, the stock exchange issued a notice saying it will temporarily close down to run tests with securities companies to ensure the safety and accuracy of the trading system.

HSX is back in full swing today

While the impact of the shutdown has yet to be quantified, according to Marc Djandji, head of Institutional Sales at Rong Viet Securities (VDSC), the closure, based on the latest trading value on HSX, could result in a loss of approximately VND27 billion ($1.2 million) of trading commissions a day for securities firms.

Djandji, however, said that the halt would not have much of an impact on valuations when the market re-opens, as nothing has changed in the fundamentals of the listed companies. “I actually think that the market will rise once it goes live again.”

“However, there may be selling pressure due to margins, and if that happens, it would be an opportunity to buy. Most importantly, if the glitch happens again in a short period of time, then I would expect some negative reactions from investors,” he added.

While admitting that the situation was rather frustrating for everyone, investors that VDSC’s Djandji has spoken to prior to the reopening seem to take it in stride and are patient enough not to panic.

“I am sure the people at the exchange are doing all they can to fix the problem as quickly as possible,” he said.

During the shutdown, stocks including Vinamilk and Vietjet become unavailable to investors.

At 2.30 PM on January 22, HSX encountered a systematic error that prevented investors from conducting at-the-close (ATC) orders. Put-through orders were not affected.

Following the shutdown, HSX has suspended all ATC orders that took place on the day and decided that the closing price of stocks on January 22 will be the last matched price of the trading day. 

VN-Index closed at 1,087.42 points on Monday, edging up by 2.29 per cent from the previous trading session. HNX-Index, meanwhile, was down 0.05 per cent, standing at 126.26 points. Put through orders went down by 25.28 per cent, with the total value reaching VND1.06 trillion ($48.18 million), down 20.7 per cent.

Net foreign buying on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) added up to VND19 billion ($863, 636) for the day.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange will not hold a trading session today as it is fixing technical problems that caused a shutdown on Monday afternoon.

 VIR