The exchange said Thursday that the problem concerned the distribution of market information, though it did not elaborate. The issue also appeared to affect smaller Japanese stock exchanges in Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo, which share the same trading system as the TSE.
It’s not clear when the exchange will be operational again, but the TSE said in a statement that the closure would last all of Thursday.
The suspension is “regrettable,” said Katsunobu Kato, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, at a press conference. He added that the country’s financial regulator has ordered the exchange and its operator, Japan Exchange Group, to investigate the cause of the glitch.
When asked about the possibility of a cyberattack, Kato said that he had “not heard about such information as of now.”
The problems shut down one of the only major exchanges operating in Asia on Thursday. Other countries are celebrating public holidays, including mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea. Markets in mainland China will remain closed for several days for the Golden Week holiday.
September wasn’t rosy for the market. Wall Street’s major indexes all recorded losses, breaking a five-month winning streak and marking the first down-month since March.
For the quarter overall, things were a bit better: All three indexes ended higher, making it the second straight quarter that stocks rose following the abysmal first three months of the year.
— Jazmin Goodwin and Anneken Tappe contributed to this report.
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