Australia Bourse Says Company Announcement Blackout Resolved
All price-sensitive announcements lodged on Dec. 1 have been successfully submitted and published
ASX Ltd. said all announcements are processing as expected on Tuesday, after a technical outage stopped company statements for hours on Monday, adding to a list of mishaps for the Australian exchange operator.
All price-sensitive announcements lodged on Dec. 1 have been successfully submitted and published, according to the company’s Systems Status page on Tuesday. ASX shares slipped as much as 0.9%, extended their decline to a second day.
Issuers who submitted non-price sensitive announcements between 8:49 a.m. and 11:22 a.m. on Dec. 1 should confirm their announcements have been published, according to a note on the page. The note did not provide any details on what caused the outage.
ASX’s stock is down about 14% this year after a string of technical issues, with the bourse’s governance and aging infrastructure coming under regulatory scrutiny. The firm expects a hit of as much as A$35 million ($22.9 million) in the next fiscal year from costs tied to the probe.
Monday’s disruption lasted between 8:59 a.m. and 12:12 p.m., creating a backlog of updates that the exchange was working on through the afternoon. Metcash Ltd., which reported its first half-year earnings, was halted for roughly four hours after the market open because of the disruption.
"We think today’s failure is likely to extend the period of regulatory scrutiny, which we would otherwise expect to gradually subside from here," Morningstar Inc. analyst Roy Van Keulen wrote in a note dated Dec. 1. The firm lowered its price target to A$73 from A$77 after the issue, while maintaining its buy rating.
