Madras Se Reverts To Physical Trading
For the first time since taking to screen-based trading, the Madras Stock Exchange (MSE) fell back on its old and forgotten physical trading hall yesterday, when its on-line system failed to take off due to snapping of 30,000 telephone connections in a fire at a local telephone exchange.
The Madras automated netted trading (Mantra), the automated trading application of the bourse, could not be started this morning as only nine brokers managed to log into the system, after the fire at the Anna Road telephone exchange, to which the stock exchange office was linked, said MSE president T Premkumar.The bourses old office in downtown Chennai came to the rescue of brokers and clients, with the exchange authorities making a quick decision to switch over to physical trading.
The postponed trading started at 1300 hrs, but MSE officials had difficulty in contacting the members for participation, due to many lines lying dead even in the afternoon, Premkumar said.
About half of the 134 members registered on the Mantra resorted to their old practice of mouth-to-mouth trading. but volumes showed signs of a drastic fall with only five scrips being quotedin the first hour.of trading.