Indonesia’s stock exchange opened its afternoon trading session at the usual time, even as it evacuated people in the vicinity after a floor collapsed during the midday trading break, Bloomberg reports.
The second session of the day opened at 1:30 p.m. in Jakarta, despite a floor collapsing into the ground level of the bourse’s Tower 2, spokesman Rheza Andhika said, adding that it wasn’t an explosion. Andhika previously said the start of trading would be delayed by an hour.
The benchmark stock index erased gains to trade little changed at 6,368.762 as of 1:32 p.m.
Footage aired on local television station MetroTV showed dozens of people lying on the ground at the entrance of the building, while debris was strewn across the lobby.
“The information we’ve received so far: the canopy fell and evacuation is ongoing,” Argo Yuwono, spokesman for Jakarta police, said by text message. “We are ascertaining whether there were casualties or not.”
The stock exchange complex is composed of two 32-floor towers, with the intact Tower 1 completed in 1994 and the damaged Tower 2 in 1998, according to the developer Sudirman Central Business District’s website. The building also houses the World Bank’s local office, according to the bourse’s website. The exchange switched to automated trading in May 1995, clearing the trading floor of brokers. President Joko Widodo visited the exchange on the last trading day of 2017, his third visit in 6 months.
10:36 (GMT+4) Indonesia’s stock exchange evacuated people from the vicinity after a floor collapsed during the midday trading break.
The floor collapsed into the ground level of the bourse’s Tower 2, spokesman Rheza Andhika said by phone, adding that it wasn’t an explosion. Footage aired on local television MetroTV showed several people lying on the ground at the entrance of the building, Bloomberg reports.
The situation remains unclear, with employees still being accounted for, said Friderica Widyasari Dewi, president director at Indonesia Central Securities Depository, which is based at the stock exchange’s building.
The stock exchange building also houses the World Bank’s local office, according to the bourse’s website.
The benchmark stock index was little changed at 6,372.785 before the lunch break.