Swiss bank UBS AG may have lost up to US$350 million because of technical glitches on the NASDAQ stock exchange the day Facebook went public, reports says.
CNBC and the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported UBS is now mulling legal action against NASDAQ.
UBS spokeswoman Karina Byrne confirmed the bank lost money due to NASDAQ technical issues when the social networking firm’s stock began trading on May 18.
Byrne declined to disclose the amount, but said it was “not material” to the bank. She said UBS has not taken legal action, but is weighing its loss-recovering options.
“Given the size of our US equities business and our role as a major market maker, UBS was affected by these issues, as we believe other market participants may have been,” Byrne said in a statement.
NASDAQ declined comment on the reports on Friday.
The US$350 million figure dwarfs previous estimates for the combined losses resulting from technical glitches at NASDAQ during Facebook’s first day of trading. This week, the exchange said it would hand out US$40 million in cash and credit to reimburse investment firms.
Facebook Inc’s initial public stock offering was one of the most widely anticipated market debuts in years, but it quickly turned chaotic.
The opening was delayed by half an hour. Then, technical problems kept many investors from buying shares in the morning, or selling them later in the day, or even knowing whether their orders went through. Some investors complained they were left holding shares they did not want.
According to CNBC and the Journal, UBS placed an order for 1 million shares, but this was not confirmed and so repeated the order several times and ended up with much more stock than it intended.
Facebook’s stock originally priced at US$38 and closed that first day at US$38.23, disappointing those hoping for a first-day surge. NASDAQ has said it was embarrassed by the glitches, but that they did not contribute to the underwhelming returns.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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