Faulty system partly blamed for botched trade at Tokyo bourse

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2005

TOKYO (AFP) — The Tokyo Stock Exchange has admitted that a fault in its system had been partly responsible for a massive loss suffered by a securities firm following an erroneous sell order by one of its dealers.

The trading system at Asia's biggest bourse failed to respond to attempts by the brokerage, Mizuho Securities Co., to cancel the order, TSE president Takuo Tsurushima said.

"It has been determined that there was a fault in our own system as well," Tsurushima told a news conference, bowing his head in apology along with his deputies.

Tsurushima said his "course of action," a Japanese euphemism for resignation, would be part of options with which TSE would take responsibility for the incident.

The turmoil was yet another embarrassment for the...