Tehran stock exchange suffers brief disruption

Glitch affected 'transactions during capital market trading' but was quickly resolved

The Tehran Stock Exchange is one of the older bourses in the Middle East. Reuters

The Tehran Stock Exchange, Iran's biggest bourse, suffered a brief disruption on Monday morning.

The glitch, which occurred after 9am, affected "transactions during capital market trading", according to the state news agency Tasnim. However, it did not give further details on the cause of the disruption.

"The exchange's trading system TSETMC ... that has been disrupted is the only platform used. The system allows traders and stockholders to connect and be able to share information about the transactions taking place," a translated version of Tasnim's report said.

"The TSETMC platform is the only platform that allows for instant trading. Without it traders will lack the proper resources to be able to make their trades, which can lead to more disruptions and confusion."

Iran International, a London-based Arabic television channel, reported the glitch at about 10am, quoting state news agency Tasnim's Telegram channel.

"Tasnim News Agency reported that the stock exchange trading system was disrupted during Monday's trading in the capital market and this disruption continues," it said.

About half an hour later, social media channel Econ Fouri said that operations had "returned to normal" as the "disruption was resolved".

No further details were available on Tasnim or any other platform after the issue was fixed.

Established in 1967, the TSE is one of the older stock exchanges in the Middle East and is one of four bourses in Iran. Others include the financials-focused Iran Fara Bourse, the Kish Stock Exchange, which is centred on oil, and the Tabriz Stock Exchange, the country's second regional stock market.

The TSE has a market capitalisation of $1.22 trillion, according to TradingHours.com, and about 700 listed companies.

Saudi Arabia is home to the Middle East's largest bourse, with a market capitalisation of about $2.57tn.

Stock market disruptions are not uncommon around the world and are mainly caused by system glitches or cyber attacks, which are capable of halting trading activity for hours or even days.

In October 2020, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the world's third-largest bourse, experienced its worst disruption after halting trading for an entire day due to a hardware breakdown.

A cyber attack on the New Zealand stock exchange in August 2020 stopped trading for more than four days. In February, a hardware failure caused a major disruption at the TMX Group, Canada's biggest stock exchange operator.

In November 2019, connectivity problems disrupted Nasdaq’s Nordic and Baltic stock market operations. The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in five stocks in April 2018, including Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, due to a technical glitch.