Financial Tech slumps 64.5 percent as NSEL suspends contracts

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares of Financial Technologies slumped 64.5 percent after National Spot Exchange Ltd, a commodities exchange in which it owns a substantial stake, suspended trading in its one-day forward contracts till further notice.

The government had earlier asked the spot exchange not to launch new contracts, creating uncertainty among traders, the NSEL said.

"This abrupt action has created uncertainty and doubt about continuity of trading on the Exchange and hence most of the participants started withdrawing from the market," NSEL said in a statement.

The exchange also decided to merge the delivery and settlement of all pending contracts and deferred it for a period of 15 days.

 

The exchange said its "e-series" contracts, through which investors can buy and sell commodities in demat form, will continue to be traded and settled.

The spot exchange clocked an annual turnover of 6 billion rupees in the year to March 2013, and had 67 running contracts on the exchange, with sugar and rice contributing to most of its volumes.

Shares in Multi Commodity Exchange of India , another FT-promoted company, closed 20 percent lower at 510.55 rupees.

(Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar and Himank Sharma; Editing by Supriya Kurane)