"Technical problem" keeps Milan bourse shut

MILAN: The Milan bourse, which plunged on Monday due to the unrest in Libya, failed to open Tuesday due to a "technical problem", market manager Borsa Italiana said, the day after steep Libya-related falls.

By late morning all the principal Italian markets remained closed including the main bourse, the FTSE Mib, which shed 3.59 percent on Monday to finish the day on 22,230 points, due in part to to its economic links with Libya.

In a statement the market manager Borsa Italiana said the suspension of trading was due to a "technical problem".

A spokesman said that checks were ongoing, but gave no further information on the nature of the problem.

Former colonial overlord Italy is a top foreign investor in Libya and the North African state has also invested billions in Italian companies.

Libya's sovereign wealth fund and veteran ruler Moamer Kadhafi's family own stakes in Italy's biggest bank UniCredit, defence and industry giant Finmeccanica, as well as in the first-division Juventus football club.

Shares in UniCredit plunged 5.75 percent by close of trading in Milan.

Libya is Unicredit's top shareholder with a 7.5-percent stake and Libyan central bank governor Farhat Omar Bengdara is also Unicredit's vice-president.

Shares in energy major ENI, which has been in Libya since 1959 and produced 244,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2009, also dropped 5.12 percent.

On Saturday, amid reports of protesters being killed, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not want to "bother" the Libyan ruler by calling him.

Then on Monday, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Europe should support national reconciliation in Libya and not try to export democracy.

Only later on Monday did Berlusconi join other world leaders in condemning the "unacceptable" use of violence against civilians in Libya.