The National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) Nifty dipped 5 percent in a freak trade Thursday morning to an intra-day low of 4,900 at 9.51 a.m. (local time, India), triggering the circuit filter halting the trading. The trade resumed 15 minutes later at 10.05 a.m.

“The market opened normally today and Nifty opened at 5,815. At 9.50.58 Nifty circuit filter got triggered upon which the cash market was closed automatically. The Nifty fall was apparently on account of abnormal orders resulting in multiple trades at low prices. While the Exchange systems functioned normally without any glitch, the above abnormal trades caused market closure automatically due to the index circuit filter getting triggered. The market was reopened by the Exchange with a pre-open phase at 10.00.22 and trading resumed at 10.05.00,” the NSE said in a release.

The stocks of companies like the State Bank of India, Sesa Goa, Tata Motors and Axis Bank were quoted 6-17 percent low on the NSE.

According to the stock exchange, erroneous orders worth Rs. 6.5 billion by Emkay Global, a client, led to the multiple trades that triggered the circuit filter.

"The market circuit filter got triggered due to entry of 59 erroneous orders which resulted in multiple trades for an aggregate value of over Rs 650 crore (6.5 billion ). These orders have been entered by a trading member Emkay Global Financial Services on behalf of an institutional client," the bourse said in a statement.

There were no glitches on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). However, the Sensex lost about 200 points as fallout of the drop on the NSE since both indices have several common stocks.

The incident happened on a day when the investor sentiments were high, tracking major reform measures announced by the Indian government Thursday evening.

The NSE is investigating the incident and the trade has resumed to normalcy now.

The BSE Sensex was trading at 18948.03, down 0.60 percent or 113 points and the NSE Nifty at 5747 points down by 0.69 percent or 40.40 points at 1:20 p.m., local time.

India