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Software bug causing mutual fund errors
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A software bug at the National Association of
Securities Dealers is causing the release of incorrect information on the
daily changes in some mutual funds' net-asset values, the Wall Street
Journal reported Thursday.
The problem, which developed last week with the introduction of a new
mutual-fund quotation system at the Nasdaq Stock Market, is affecting the
data for as many as a few hundred funds, Nasdaq officials told the
Journal.
The report said the glitch is affecting the net-asset-value changes
transmitted to some newspapers, including the Journal itself.
Fund performance figures and the figure reported as the net-asset value
aren't affected by the software problem, the report noted.
The defect may result in the transmission of incorrect information about
the daily change in a fund's net-asset value, the paper said.
Gregor Bailar, chief information officer at the NASD, said the error hits
funds that change their net-asset-value figures more than once during the
day, the report said.
Usually, mutual funds report their net-asset values to the NASD by about
5:30 p.m. EST, which then transmits the information to news media via
fund-information firms, the report said.
When funds change their information more than once throughout the day,
however, Nasdaq software inadvertently deletes the net-asset change from
the previous day, the paper said.
Thus several funds reported various news outlets as having no change in
net-asset value from the previous day may actually have had a change, the
report said.
Nasdaq officials told the Journal that 200 to 500 funds each day may be
affected by the glitch.
Vanguard Group, Malvern, Pa., said several of its funds including a
Standard & Poor's 500 index fund and at least one actively managed fund
have been incorrectly reported with flat net-asset value changes in recent
days, the report said.
And Fidelity Investments' Destiny I and Destiny II funds also were
incorrectly transmitted Wednesday with a net-asset value change of zero, a
spokesman for the fund family said, according to the report.
-o-
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Received on Sun Nov 1 21:14:18 1998