The Australian Securities Exchange stumbled into December with a major technical failure that prevented dozens of companies from releasing market-sensitive information.
Trading opened under a cloud of uncertainty as the ASX announcements platform went offline at 8:59 AM AEDT on 1 December 2025.
Approximately 80 companies found themselves unable to publish critical updates to investors, forcing an immediate wave of trading halts across the market.
Metcash Among Major Names Hit by System Failure
The ASX publishing outage caught grocery wholesaler Metcash at a particularly awkward moment. The company behind IGA supermarkets was mid-investor call when the platform crashed.
Unable to release its first-half results presentation, Metcash had no choice but to request a trading halt. The company had posted a post-tax profit of $142.2 million and declared an 8.5 cent dividend for shareholders.
But retail investors were locked out of the information while institutional fund managers received details of at least four equity raisings via private circulation. The Australian Financial Review reported this created a two-tier information system favouring professionals over everyday shareholders.
Market Loses Ground as Uncertainty Spreads
The S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.21 per cent to 8,595 points by midday. The broader All Ordinaries lost 23.9 points or 0.27 per cent to 8,894.8.
Banking and healthcare sectors bore the brunt of the decline. Shares in insurance broking company AUB Group plunged after its takeover talks with private equity firms EQT and CVC collapsed.
The weak start capped what had already been the bourse’s worst month since March. In November, the ASX 200 fell three per cent, with Commonwealth Bank dropping 11.2 per cent.
ASX Scrambles to Restore Function
The exchange operator issued a statement acknowledging the technical problem and apologising for the disruption.
“ASX is urgently investigating a technical issue affecting the publication of company announcements,” the statement read.
“ASX’s cash equities trading platform remains open and commenced as scheduled at 10:00 AM AEDT.”
By 11:22 AM, the ASX had implemented an initial remediation process. Some announcements began flowing through, but earlier submissions remained stuck in the system.
The ASX website displayed notices about the technical issue affecting company announcements
Key timeline of events:
- 8:59 AM: Announcements platform goes offline
- 10:00 AM: Market opens as scheduled despite outage
- 11:22 AM: Partial remediation begins, newer announcements start publishing
- Midday: Around 80 companies still in trading halts
- Afternoon: Backlog continues while ASX works toward full resolution
Halted Securities Face Extended Delays
The exchange confirmed that halted securities would only resume trading once their associated announcements had been successfully published.
This created a challenging situation for companies with time-sensitive news. Some had been preparing major updates for weeks, only to see release schedules thrown into chaos.
The ASX emphasised that clearing and settlement functions continued operating normally. Share transactions and financial processing went ahead as planned.
Regulatory Scrutiny Intensifies
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission confirmed it was engaging with the ASX on the outage.
“ASIC is aware of issues with the ASX market announcement platform,” a spokesperson said.
The regulator has already commissioned a broad inquiry into the ASX’s governance and operational performance. Commonwealth Bank director Rob Whitfield leads the review alongside two other experts.
The Reserve Bank of Australia declined to comment immediately but had previously criticised the exchange’s culture and risk-management practices.
In September, the RBA issued a scathing assessment following a December 2024 settlement-system malfunction. That incident raised concerns about whether the ASX could maintain secure and resilient market infrastructure.
Pattern of Technical Problems Emerges
The announcements platform failure marked the latest in a troubling sequence of operational mishaps.
December 2024 saw a major trading settlement outage that forced the exchange to reschedule and delay settlement of trades. The ASX later issued a formal apology and allocated $1 million in credit rebates to settlement participants.
The exchange has also struggled with its long-running CHESS replacement programme. In 2022, it abandoned a blockchain-based upgrade after writing off $245 million.
Last year, the ASX entrusted Tata Consultancy Services with the project at an estimated cost of $105 million to $125 million over multiple years.
Global Context: CME Outage Adds to Market Jitters
The ASX problems came just days after CME Group suffered one of its longest outages in years.
On Friday 29 November, the world’s largest exchange operator experienced a data centre cooling failure at its CyrusOne facility. The disruption halted futures, options, and commodities trading across stocks, bonds, and currencies for several hours.
While unrelated to the ASX incident, the timing heightened investor anxiety about dependence on critical market infrastructure.
ASX Share Price Takes Hit
Shares in ASX Ltd fell during Monday trading as investors digested the operational failure.
The stock dropped as much as 2.46 per cent to $56.78 during the session. By early afternoon, it was trading down 1.7 per cent at $57.21, hitting its lowest level since 21 November.
Year to date, ASX shares have declined 12.1 per cent, reflecting ongoing concerns about the exchange operator’s ability to maintain reliable systems.
The 52-week range sits at $51.50 to $62.80.
Sector Performance Amid Disruption
Despite the platform chaos, certain sectors found support during the session.
Sectors that gained:
- Energy stocks edged 0.1 per cent higher as oil prices stabilised
- Gold miners benefited from a 1.60 per cent surge in gold prices to US$4,192
- Materials advanced on copper’s 0.30 per cent uptick
Sectors that struggled:
- Technology fell sharply, continuing a recent decline
- Financials extended losses for the sixth consecutive session
- Real estate investment trusts posted declines
Also Read: AUB EQT CVC Deal Abandoned, Prompting Renewed Confidence In AUB’s Strategy And Profit Guidance
Looking Ahead: Confidence Concerns Mount
The outage has reignited questions about whether Australia’s primary exchange can meet the operational standards expected of a major financial market.
Investors and listed companies rely on timely, equal access to market-sensitive information. Any disruption to that flow undermines confidence and creates unfair advantages for those with alternative information channels.
The ASX now faces pressure to demonstrate that proper safeguards and redundancies are in place. With regulatory reviews already underway, another major systems failure could trigger more serious intervention.
Market participants will be watching closely to see how quickly full functionality is restored and what steps the exchange takes to prevent future outages.
