REFILE-Japan stocks trade halted due to technical glitch; Nikkei futures rise

(Corrects to fix typo in headline)
TOKYO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Japanese shares remained suspended
at midday break on Thursday after the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)
earlier halted trading in all stocks citing technical problems.
TSE said it does not know when the issue will be resolved.
Bourses in Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo, which use the TSE's
system, also suspended trading. The derivative-focused Osaka
Exchange is not affected. A statement from the TSE gave no further details.
Nikkei futures JNIc1 , which trade in Osaka, were last up
0.56%, in line with a rise in U.S. stocks overnight.
The Nikkei .N225 fell 1.5% on Wednesday, its biggest
decline in two months, as an acrimonious debate between U.S.
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden
increased concerns about an indecisive outcome from the
presidential election in November. "The timing is really just bad," Takashi Hiroki, chief
strategist at Monex in Tokyo, said about the trading halt,
adding many market participants were hoping to buy back their
stocks or increase their holdings following an overnight rise on
Wall Street.
"As expected, U.S. stocks were unaffected by the U.S.
presidential election, but gained instead on stimulus hopes. And
that could have prompted a surge in stocks' buybacks in early
Japanese market. But the market was robbed of that chance."
The TSE had been prone to system troubles in the past and
was notorious for sluggish trading, but problems have been
relatively rare since it expanded its capability with the
introduction of a new system in 2010.
The TSE had suspended trading in October 2018 due to
problems with its trading system.
In 2006, news of an accounting scandal at the then popular
internet firm Livedoor Co sparked a massive sell-off. Unable to
handle the rush of orders from panicked investors, the TSE had
to curtail trading hours for three months.