NSE Clearing suffered a tech glitch before Nifty fell by 3% on Monday

NSE Clearing, the trade-clearing and settlement arm of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), was hit by a ‘technical glitch’ on Monday that affected several stock brokers, sources in the know told BusinessLine.

Before the Nifty index witnessed its worst single day fall of over 3 per cent, or 432 points, in nearly seven months , many brokers saw their trade orders being automatically deleted and some even had their terminals disabled, brokers said.

“At around 11.38 AM, all our pending orders were cancelled by the exchange. Market regulator SEBI should look into this as to how it happens on the day volatility is high,” a dealer at a south-Mumbai brokerage house said.

At around 11.30 AM, the Nifty index was trading at 13,722 levels. But in less than three hours around 2.45 PM, the index crashed to 13,212. According to brokers, the orders pending in the system at lower levels often act as a cushion for the markets during severe price fall. However, since pending orders of several brokers were ‘automatically’ deleted the selling seemed intense, brokers said.

The NSE did not offer any comment to an email query. A source said the ‘glitch’ was not at the exchange but with the clearing arm and an analysis was being conducted. The source further said that the glitch was immediately resolved.