The Australian sharemarket has resumed trading after a major technical fault forced it to close for most of the day.
The market resumed at 2pm.
About 6,700 deals took place before the market was shut down by a fault only a few minutes after opening.
It was placed in "enquire mode" - meaning no trades could be made - while efforts were made to resolve the problem.
The Sydney Futures Exchange and currency trade were not affected.
Chris Weston of IG Markets said it was a bad day for the market to be closed, as traders await the results of a key European Union summit in Brussels.
An ASX spokesperson refused to provide any detail on the nature of the fault, according to the ABC.
It was the second glitch to hit the exchange in the past eight months.
On 28 February trading was suspended for all stocks mid-afternoon when the exchange's computer system failed to send confirmation messages for trades in some companies.
Four days before rival launches
The glitch comes just four days before rival stock exchange operator Chi-X Australia is due to begin operations.
Chi-X will compete with the ASX, which has been the sole national stock exchange since its formation in 1987.
