Tokyo trading stops over system failure, China on holiday

TOKYO (AP) — Trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was suspended Thursday because of a problem in the system for relaying market information. Most other Asian markets were closed for national holidays.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange said that all trading was stopped because of the problem, and will not resume for the rest of the day. It was unclear when it would be resolved and the system would be operating again.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.0% in the afternoon to 5,872.90. Other Asian markets also were higher.

Trading was closed in South Korea, Hong Kong and mainland China for national holidays.

Government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said the failure was under investigation. Japan's nationally circulated Asahi newspaper, without citing sources, said the cause was likely a mechanical failure.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the world's third largest bourse after the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, with market capitalization of nearly $6 trillion.

Previous outages occurred when the “arrowhead" system created by Fujitsu to handle its electronic trading became overwhelmed with too many orders at one time.

Also Thursday, a quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan showed Japanese manufacturers’ sentiment has improved for the first time in three years, despite the downturn made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wall Street, prospects for additional support from Congress for the economy helped drive the day’s trading, as they have for weeks. The S&P 500 shot to a gain of as much as 1.7% after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke positively on CNBC before his afternoon talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — their first face-to-face meeting in more than a month in a last-ditch effort to seal a tentative accord on an additional round of coronavirus relief.

But...