MCX Trading Hit By Technical Snag, Operations Halted For Nearly Two Hours Leaving Traders Waiting

Mumbai: Trading on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) remained suspended for nearly two hours on Tuesday after a technical glitch disrupted normal operations. The market, which typically opens at 9:00 AM, saw repeated delays as MCX initially pushed the start time to 9:30 AM, then 9:45 AM, and later to 10:00 AM. However, after announcing a tentative resumption at 10:30 AM, the exchange withdrew the update, citing continuing technical issues.

At 11:05 AM, MCX released a fresh statement saying, 'The commencement of trading is delayed due to a technical issue. Trading will start from the Disaster Recovery (DR) site. The time of commencement will be informed to market participants. Inconvenience is regretted.'

Operations Shift to Disaster Recovery Site

MCX confirmed that trading would begin from its disaster recovery platform, but did not disclose the reason for the outage or provide an estimated time for full restoration. The exchange, India’s largest for commodity derivatives, has faced similar issues in the past. On July 23, 2024, trading was delayed by over an hour due to a comparable technical problem before resuming operations at 10:00 AM.

Market Reaction and Trading Schedule

A regular MCX session operates from 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM, split into morning (till 5 PM) and evening sessions. The prolonged delay on Tuesday left many traders unable to initiate or close positions during early hours, prompting concerns over system reliability.

Shares of MCX reacted mildly, slipping 0.9 percent to Rs 9,220, trading below their 52-week low of Rs 9,317, as investors awaited clarification on the issue.