Dublin stockbrokers had to revert to floor trading yesterday following the collapse of the newly adopted electronic share dealing system, writes Siobhan Creaton. The breakdown comes less than a month after its adoption in Dublin. The Xetra system, linked to the Frankfurt market, was switched off in Frankfurt for three hours due to a technical fault, going down at 3.10 p.m. and operating again by 5.15 p.m. Dublin remained open for about 20 minutes longer yesterday to enable brokers to input outstanding orders due to the hitch.

The disruption did not significantly affect the markets as trading volumes are very thin around this time of the year. Deutsche Borse decided to switch off the system following technical problems. Floor trading continued as normal in Frankfurt and trading resumed before the markets closed. A thorough investigation of what happened was initiated last night. The fault was the second since November 1997 and is the first major one, Deutsche Borse said.

A spokesman for the Irish Stock Exchange said the Xetra system was functioning again here before the trading close and the shutdown should have no impact on trading today.