Trading on Israel's Tel Aviv stock exchange was temporarily halted on Sunday after share prices fell six per cent at the open on news of a US credit rating downgrade, public radio reported.
Trading opened as normal on Sunday, the first day of Israel's working week, but mandatory suspensions went into effect minutes into the session as the stock exchange plunged.
Both the blue-chip TA-25 and the TA-100 indices dropped more than five per cent in pre-trading, prompting the exchange to put into effect a practice known as an 'English opening,' with trading delayed for short periods.
'What happened this morning is that during pre-trading, the TA-25 went down more than five per cent, so there are a few actions that are taken,' exchange spokeswoman Idit Yaaron told the AFP.
'The first is an English opening, where the trading is delayed by three to five minutes, after that, the trading system checks the data again, if it's still up or down by five per cent, it's delayed another three to five minutes.'
After the first two short suspensions, the indices had failed to stabilise sufficiently, prompting the exchange to authorise a 45-minute suspension, Yaaron said.
The delay allowed trading to return within the five-per cent band, and trading resumed shortly afterwards, but both indices quickly began to fall again.
Source : New Age
