The Tokyo Stock Exchange has been forced to halt trading for an entire day due to a hardware failure.
The technical foul-up happened due to a hardware crash and backup device failure that made it impossible to distribute market information.
The timing of the outage left traders twiddling their thumbs as markets reacted to a stock surge following the acrimonious debate between US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The timing was even more unfortunate with Tokyo acting as one of the only major exchanges operating in Asia on Thursday. Other countries in the region are celebrating public holidays, including mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea.
The suspension is "regrettable," said Katsunobu Kato, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, at a press conference. He added that the country's financial regulator has ordered the exchange and its operator, Japan Exchange Group, to investigate the cause of the glitch.
In an update Thursday afternoon, the Exchange said that it was replacing the malfunctioning hardware overnight and would be ready to resume trading on Friday morning.