Blame spreads over Mizuho trading error

The Tokyo Stock Exchange today admitted that a fault in its own systems led to the mistaken stock trade on December 8 that has so far cost Mizuho some $225 million.

A trader for Mizuho placed an erroneous sell order at 0927 local time on December 8, offering 610,000 shares of the newly-listed company J-Com for sale at ¥1 each, rather than one share at ¥610,000. Shortly after making the mistake, Mizuho made several attempts to cancel the trade, but without success.

The TSE has now admitted that its systems suffered an "irregularity" while processing the erroneous order, which meant that Mizuho's attempts to cancel the order were ignored. Mizuho has since been settling the erroneous trades in cash, which has cost over $200 million.

TSE president Takuo Tsurushima said yesterday that he was considering resigning over the issue. The TSE is also investigating the problem with Fujitsu, the systems manufacturer.

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