20000102

Asian stock markets say unaffected by Y2K

SINGAPORE: Asia's stock markets reported on Saturday that their computerised trading systems were unaffected by the Y2K computer bug as the new millennium rolled in.

Stock exchanges in Japan, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh said their systems were operating smoothly, though all markets in the region except Bangladesh were closed.

Most bourses said they had conducted mock trading sessions on Saturday to test their systems.

Financial services bodies around the world have been on the alert for any problems related to Year 2000 (Y2K) rollover, during which some computers were expected to misread 2000 as 1900 and cause systems to crash or malfunction.

Most Asian countries had repeatedly assured that they were "Y2K ready" after spending substantial sums to fight the bug.

Japan's largest bourse, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), said its internal system checks for Y2K-related problems had gone off smoothly.

A statement on the exchange's website said the checks had found no problems and that it will carry out mock trading tests with its member companies on Sunday.

Regular trading at the TSE will resume at 9 a.m. on January 4 (2400 GMT on Monday).

Bangladesh's two stock exchanges, Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange, the first markets in the world to open in the new millennium, started trading smoothly around 0400 GMT, officials at the two bourses said.

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) said its systems were ready for trading in 2000, and the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) also reported successful testing of its systems. Korea Stock Exchange said its computers were free of glitches. "We have tested our trading system as well as related computers and have not experienced any glitches," Min Kyoung-hoon, an official at the exchange's Y2K team, said.

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong said it had completed two mock trading sessions without any problem.

"We have no report of any incident in our test," Hong Kong stock exchange spokesman Patrick Yip said.

Tests in China showed the computerised stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen had survived the rollover.

The Taiwan and Singapore exchanges said mock trading sessions for the securities market showed that all systems were functioning smoothly.

Mock trading sessions were also conducted on the Philippine Stock Exchange, India's Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Thailand with no interruptions from the dreaded bug, the bourses said.

"Mock trading started at 11 a.m. (0530 GMT) and everything is fine. There is no problem at all," S.B Patankar, director information systems at the Bombay Stock Exchange told Reuters.

The Colombo Stock Exchange said it had started up its trading system after the millennium rollover without any glitches.

Pakistan's bourses quashed rumours that they were facing Y2K problems. The Karachi Stock Exchange said its mock trading session went off smoothly, though the smaller Islamabad Stock Exchange said it had not conducted any tests in the new year.-Reuters