Stock Reporting Errors

A stock trader’s error on part of the Nasdaq computer system Friday led to reporting of incorrect prices on more than two dozen major stocks.

Trades are expected to be correctly priced, but incorrect figures were transmitted to computer systems, newspapers such as The Times and other reporting agencies.

(Figures on the Times’ TimesLine phone service will not be corrected until Monday.)

The error marks the latest in a series of technical glitches that have plagued the Nasdaq market this summer, ranging from software problems to an errant squirrel that chewed through a Nasdaq computer system power cable.

The problem Friday involved a trader’s misuse of the Automated Confirmation Transaction system.

The trades, which took place away from the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq market, are displayed on the ACT system to fulfill reporting requirements under securities laws.

Stocks from the NYSE and other markets can be traded via the electronic Nasdaq system.

Although some of the stocks are in the Dow Jones industrial average, the errors did not affect the average because it is calculated on the basis of 4 p.m. closing prices on the NYSE.

Nasdaq’s market surveillance officials, who alerted Associated Press to the problem, supplied an unofficial list of the affected stocks and correct late trades recorded for each issue:

American International Group, 90 5/8; Ameritech, 40 3/4; Amoco, 58 3/4; American Express, 30 1/2; Atlantic Richfield, 105 7/8; Boeing, 45 3/4; BankAmerica, 48 5/8; Bell Atlantic, 53; Bristol Myers Squibb, 57.

Citicorp, 44 3/8; Coca Cola, 45 3/8; DuPont, 58 3/4; Disney, 42 1/4; Dow Chemical, 75 7/8; Eastman Kodak, 51 5/8; General Electric, 49 1/8; Hewlett-Packard, 89 3/4.

IBM, 67 1/4; Johnson & Johnson, 49 1/4; Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, 55 3/4; Mobil, 81 5/8; Merck, 33 5/8.

Pepsico, 33 1/8; Sears Roebuck, 49 1/8; Schlumberger, 56 3/4; Wal-Mart, 24 3/4.