Trading at BSE disrupted for second time this week

Dealers say share prices were not updating for about 15-20 minutes in morning trade

Share prices on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) stopped updating for about 15-20 minutes in morning trade, marking the second consecutive session in which trading has been disrupted at Asia's oldest exchange, multiple dealers said on Wednesday.

The disruption, confirmed by seven traders from different brokerages, comes after BSE introduced on Monday a new trading system for shares called BOLT Plus, which the exchange is using under license from Deutsche Boerse.

BOLT Plus, which promises to cut trading to microseconds, was unveiled for currency and debt trading in February without any disruptions, traders said.

Traders said shares had briefly stopped updating on Monday, and said the problem had recurred on Wednesday.

A BSE spokesman confirmed the disruption on equity trading on Monday but said they had not received any reports of issues with trading on Wednesday. Indian markets were closed on Tuesday for a local holiday.

"There was just a small issue for less than 4 minutes when we moved to a new updated software on Monday. We are still to receive any confirmation of any issues on Wednesday," a BSE spokesman said.

All seven dealers contacted by Reuters said they could not see updated share prices on Wednesday morning, preventing them from placing trades. Some estimated the issue lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes.

The BSE has trumped its partnership with Deutsche Boerse, and the introduction of BOLT Plus, which marks its bid to win market share over dominant rival, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.

Indian exchanges have previously suffered from trading disruptions that had raised concerns about the reliability of the trading infrastructure.