Ever increasing issues with Online Trading System takes toll on newly listed companies; misleading information resulted in panic among investors

Last Thursday, IPOs of Shivam Cement Limited (SHIVM) and Universal Power Company Limited (UPCL) were listed on NEPSE. However, the trading in both these securities didn’t happen until today. This came after the implementation of Special Free Open Session used to determine the share price of the first transaction. Since, the prices of shares didn’t match during the session on Thursday, the trading in both the securities didn’t take place.

Since the market was closed on Friday, this issue couldn’t be solved. These shares finally opened for trade on Sunday i.e. today. However, as the trading in the newly listed companies took off, the website has been full of data errors that haven’t been solved yet.

To begin with, the foremost issue was seen in the floor sheet of the website. The trading in both the companies took place but the data wasn’t displayed on the floor sheet. NEPSE acknowledged the problem publishing a notice regarding the technical issue and apologizing for the same.

Another issue was with the error in the data displayed. Asha Laghubitta (ALSBL) had two different LTP on different lists. The price of the stock was at Rs.496 per share in the top turnover list and the same was Rs.545 in the top gainers list. This error misled investors resulting in further panic.

Further, the market depth tab of the website was facing a different problem altogether. In the market depth, the sell orders of Shivam Cement showed varied prices. One sell order was placed at Rs.162 per share while the other was placed at Rs.300 per share. The transaction of the scrip opened at Rs.464 and intraday movement can only be as much as 10% of the opening price for that day. Considering this, the share price of the company could only fall to Rs.418 or rise to Rs.510. Any order that is not within the mentioned rage shouldn’t be displayed. This is another misleading information to the investors.

The technical issues have become a normal part of the daily lives of an investor. However, the frequency of such issues is escalated during listing of new companies as seen in the past.

NEPSE and the online trading system developing company, YCO have agreed to solve all related issues within a period of one month. Hopefully, the investors can expect a smooth trading system without any speedbumps in the days to come. But even this can’t be said with complete accuracy, since all of know how important are deadlines to the authorities.