ASX Ltd Faces Technical Outage and Regulatory Scrutiny
ASX Ltd, the operator of Australia’s primary national stock exchange and equity derivatives market, experienced a significant technical outage on Monday, 1 December 2025. The outage halted the publication of company announcements for several hours, affecting approximately 50 issuers, including Metcash Ltd. and other price‑sensitive listings.
Timeline of the Outage
- 8:59 am (Sydney time): The exchange stopped disseminating company statements.
- 9:39 am: ASX acknowledged the issue and began investigating the cause.
- 10:00 am: Market opened as usual, but trading in affected securities was suspended until their announcements were posted.
- 11:22 am: The outage was declared resolved; ASX resumed publishing statements and began processing those received after 11:22 am.
According to ASX’s Systems Status page, all price‑sensitive announcements lodged on 1 December have now been submitted and published. Issuers who submitted non‑price‑sensitive announcements between 8:49 am and 11:22 am should verify that their releases appear on the platform.
Impact on Share Prices
ASX shares fell 1.6 % at 1:10 am, reflecting investor concern over the disruption. The incident has intensified scrutiny from regulators, with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) conducting a probe into the exchange’s governance and risk‑management practices.
Regulatory Context
The outage is the latest in a series of technical issues that have raised questions about ASX’s infrastructure resilience. Previous incidents have included glitches during technology upgrades. Regulators are examining whether ASX’s systems and controls are adequate to prevent future disruptions.
Current Status
All company announcements for the day have been processed, and the exchange has confirmed that trading will resume for affected securities once the associated announcements are published. ASX is working to restore full functionality and to address the underlying causes of the outage.
