Nordic and Baltic equity trading halted again by tech glitch

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Nasdaq's <NDAQ.O> Nordic and Baltic stock markets were halted by technical problems for a second time on Friday, only minutes after trading resumed following earlier problems.

The equity and equity derivatives markets had reopened at 1200 GMT after a two-hour trading halt that Nasdaq attributed to connectivity issues.

"Due to technical disturbances, Nasdaq Nordic Equity and Nasdaq Nordic Index and Equity Derivatives markets (have been) halted again," operator Nasdaq said in an emailed statement.

The company operates bourses in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Nasdaq said after the second stoppage that the Stockholm bourse, which had already been scheduled to close early ahead of a public holiday, and the Baltic exchanges would remain closed for the rest of the day.

Trading in Copenhagen, Helsinki and Reykjavik will resume with opening auctions at 1605 CET (1505 GMT), it said, followed by continuous trading from 1615 CET (1515 GMT).

Those bourses are scheduled to close as per normal trading hours.

"We are working diligently to correct the technical issue we experienced with our Nordic and Baltic markets today," Lauri Rosendahl, head of European equities and derivatives at Nasdaq, said in an email.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this has created for our exchange members and all investors in our markets."

Trading on the Norwegian bourse, which is owned by Euronext <ENX.PA>, was not interrupted.

(Reporting by Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki newsrooms; Writing by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Niklas Pollard, David Goodman, Susan Fenton and Jan Harvey)