Tech problems plague Nordic markets

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Technical problems paralyzed the Nasdaq OMX Nordic stock markets for up to 7 hours in some countries Tuesday, freezing trades in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and in the Baltic region.

Continuing for a second day, problems spilled over Tuesday into even more Nasdaq OMX trading floors and led to a near standstill in share trade with members unable to log on to a newly installed trading system.

Because of regional time differences and other opening hours, some Baltic bourses experienced as much as six-and-a-half hours of downtime, while the Stockholm stock exchange was down for more than five, and the Icelandic for about three, Nasdaq OMX spokesman Carl Norell said.

"We haven't had this type of downtime since 1999, when the system was introduced," Norell said.

The Oslo stock exchange in Norway -- the only Nordic exchange not controlled by the Nasdaq OMX group, but which uses the same trading system as the other bourses -- was also affected.

Norell said trade in derivatives had not been affected.

On Monday, stock market opening was delayed for about 40 minutes in some parts of the Nordic region because of similar problems.

"It's not very confidence boosting when they introduce a system that doesn't work. Especially when they're a world leader in technical systems," Claes Hemberg said, an economist at Avanza Bank in Stockholm.

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. in February took control of Stockholm-based OMX, after settling with Borse Dubai in a combined $4.9 billion deal for the Nordic stock exchange operator.

Stock exchanges are forming global alliances and creating cross-border mergers to compete.

Elisabeth Tandan, chairwoman for the Swedish Shareholders' Association, told Swedish news agency TT that "it gets you wondering whether this system has been test driven properly and if they're proceeding too quickly with the integration work."

Sweden's Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell called it a "big mess" and said the breakdown should be reviewed by the country's financial supervisory authority.

Traders called it a lost day.

"Our clients are asking why this can happen and say it is really unfortunate," said Esbjorn Edvall, head of analysis at SEB trading, declining to comment on the value of the loss brought on by the stoppage.

With ambitions to clinch a vast share of European share trade, Nasdaq OMX in March unveiled plans to launch a pan-European platform for the most actively traded blue chip stocks in Europe.

The platform is due for start in September and aims to garner 5 percent of the market within a year, and 20 percent in the longer term.