PACIFIC EXCHANGE MAY SEE RECORD VOLUME AGAIN
Pacific Stock Exchange Chairman
Maurice Mann said the exchange may have reached record volume
again today, following yesterday's record 17.6 mln shares.
    it looks like at least the same volume as yesterday, Mann
said at a news conference following the close.
    The exchange closed one-half hour early for the second
straight day. Mann said the exchange will determine daily
whether or not to close early over the next several days.
    Mann said the only major operational problem today occurred
when the exchange had to stop trading 30 over-the-counter
options, 17 of which trading were restored later in the day.
    He said the options had to be halted because price
information on the underlying stocks was not being disseminated
on the floor quickly enough.
    "You cannot trade an option, unless you know how much its
worth," he said.
    Mann said the exchange's computer system was working better
than had been expected under the pressure of the heavy trading
volume.
    "This system was not designed to do what it did today and
yesterday," he said.
    He said technical adjustments to the system since yesterday
improved today's operations. He would not elaborate.
    Mann said the decision to close the exchange early was not
due to concerns over the vulnerability of being open one half
hour after New York closed. Rather, he said, it was to allow
trades to be tallied in conformance with other exchanges.
    In Los Angeles, traders said although trading was hectic,
they were able to keep up with orders better than yesterday.
    "We could handle the orders we got. Things seem to be
smoothing out," said Richard Goforth, a partner with Crowell
Weedon and Co who trades on the Los Angeles exchange floor.
    Goforth, added, however, traders expected to be there into
the evening sorting out the paperwork on their trades.
    Jefferies and Co Director of Trading James Melton said the
firm has been extremely busy making markets in halted stocks
and in after hours trading. He said Jefferies has been trading
about 15 hours a day, beginning at 0300 pdt.
    Melton said Jefferies made markets in such blue chip stocks
as International Business Machines <IBM>, Allegis Corp <AEG>
and Merck and Co <MRK> while they were halted on the exchanges.
    Melton declined to give volumes of off-market trading the
company has been doing, but said, "its just very, very busy...
when the stocks are halted our markets are very active." He
said he expects the heavy volume to continue through the week.
    While sellers still predominated, Melton added, "people
were bottom fishing a little bit in the blue chips...but its
very nervous."

 Reuter
