Taiwan trader buys $359m in shares by mistake

TAIPEI - A Taiwan stock trader mistakenly bought $T7.9 billion ($NZ359 million) worth of shares with a mis-stroke of her computer.

The trader with Fubon Securities mis-keyed in a small order from Merrill Lynch on Monday, creating confusion when many small firms inexplicably surged the 7 percent trading limit.

Her company is now looking at a paper loss of more than $NZ17 million and she is looking for a new job.

"Something like this is difficult to explain to superiors," a Fubon executive said on Tuesday.

Fubon said that the trader was unfamiliar with new computer systems and would be fired.

"There is a paper loss of more than $T400 million," said the executive.

"However, with a good outlook for stocks in the second half, there are no plans to sell the shares in the near term."

- REUTERS