Third cyber attack halts NZX trading

The S&P/NZX 50 Index was up 21.92 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,053.43, when trading was halted at 11:10am. Within the index, 26 stocks were up, 16 were down and eight were unchanged. Turnover was just $22.7 million.

The benchmark index was on a path to hit a new record when the exchange was hit by a fresh attack, blocking access to its website and public announcement system. The NZX 50 rose as high as 12,107.45 on Feb. 21.

The NZX has been targeted by a string of distributed denial of service attacks since Tuesday, which have now disrupted trading for three days in a row.

“It is clearly aimed solely at disruption and they are, at this stage, achieving their goal,” said David Price, head of institutional broking at Forsyth Barr.