Knight Capital Stops Trading Due To Power Problems

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Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:KCG) halted its trading activities on Wednesday afternoon after its back-up power generator failed, following a power interruption caused by Hurricane Sandy, according to the report from Bloomberg.

Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:KCG) issued a memo indicating the company decision to stop accepting new trading orders, and advised its clients to re-route their stock order to other trading firms. The company cut off trading orders related to institutional sales & trading, exchange-listed, and over-the-counter stocks and options.

Knight Capital Stops Trading Due To Power Problems

The memo reads, “Due to a building emergency (power issues), Knight Capital Americas is asking you to seek an alternate destination for the order handling and execution of your OTC, Options, and Listed orders until further notice. All computer interfaces with Knight will be shut down with no new orders, both by phone or electronic, being accepted at this time.”

Kara Fitzimmons, spokesperson of Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:KCG) told Bloomberg that BondPoint, the company’s trading platform was not affected, and it was switched to a backup data center located in Purchase, New York.

According to Fitzimmons, Knight Capital’s trading offices in other areas are accepting orders, including its institutional fixed-income business in Greenwich, Connecticut. She said, “Power went down at about 11:45. Other regional offices are trading.”

Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:KCG) did not provide a definite school as to when the company will be able to resume its normal trading operations.

Many businesses in New York and New Jersey were affected by the power outages and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy. The U.S. equity markets were closed for two days due to the devastating storm.

Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:KCG) nearly went bankrupt in August, after suffering $457.6 million losses due to technical glitches. The company is one of the biggest moneymakers in the United States. The company secured $400 million in capital infusion from a consortium of investors.

The shares of Knight Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:KCG) were down by more than 3 percent, to $2.54 per share during the afternoon trading on Wednesday. The stock previously closed at $2.62 per share.

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