Tokyo Stock Exchange hit by worst-ever outage, session suspended

A hardware failure suspended the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) earlier on Thursday in the worst outage ever suffered by the world’s third-largest stock market.

The TSE said the outage was the result of a hardware problem at its “Arrowhead” trading system, and a subsequent failure to switch over to a backup device.

The hit raised doubts over the exchange’s credibility after Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga prioritized digitalization in hopes of attracting more banks and fund managers from Hong Kong amid uncertainty due to the new security laws in China.

Other regional bourses in Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo were also forced to halt trading sessions due to its reliance of the TSE system, leaving derivatives-focused Osaka Exchange as the only equity market still running in Japan on Thursday

The TSE had been known for technical troubles in the past and was notorious for sluggish trading, though few glitches had been reported since a new system was adopted in 2010.

Fujitsu Ltd, which developed the trading system, said it was investigating the problem with the TSE assured that it would reopen on Friday.