In the first 15 minutes of trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 183.44 points, or 1.1 percent

January 2, 2000
Web posted at: 11:23 p.m. EST (0423 GMT)

In this story: Monday a test for much of world Good news prompts reduction in Y2K monitoring Officials warn of Leap Day glitches Hackers unleash first computer viruses of 2000 Few significant Y2K problems reported RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

HONG KONG (CNN) -- Two major Asian stock markets set records on Monday morning, the first day of trading in the year 2000, after opening without a hint of the feared Y2K computer bug.

"Trading has been fairly smooth so far," said John Yap, a dealer in Singapore. "There's been no indication of any glitches. Trading has been as smooth as we had hoped."

The benchmark Straits Times index was up 22.70 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,502.28 four minutes after opening, continuing the bullish trading of the past two weeks. The index closed Thursday at a previous all-time high of 2,479.58 points.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped
183.44 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,145.54, to reach another record. The index also had set an all-time high on Thursday, during the last trading of 1999, by reaching 16,962.10.

Japan's stock exchange, the other main one in Asia, will not reopen in the new year until Tuesday.

Asia, Europe and much of the rest of the world are bracing for the next round of possible computer glitches from the so-called millennium bug. Other places, including the Middle East, declared victory over the Y2K threat and scaled back their glitch-fighting forces.

For most of the world, the first working day of the new year will be Monday. And experts say the possibility of computer glitches will increase as the working world revs back up to full speed.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange became the first major Western market to open in the year 2000. Early futures trading on its Globex electronic trading system showed no Y2K-related problems.

New Zealand's first workday of 2000 went without any reports of significant glitches, according to the U.S. State Department.

International Y2K monitors are closely watching Asian markets, including Hong Kong's trading market, which opened at 0200 GMT.

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The Chicago Mercantile Exchange became the first major Western market to open in 2000 with trades Sunday evening. Early futures trading on its Globex electronic trading system showed no Y2K-related problems.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's first workday of 2000 went without any reports of significant glitches, according to the U.S. State Department.

But much of the world has yet to return to work Monday and experts say the possibility of computer glitches will increase as the world revs back up to full speed.

Y2K fears have prompted Jamaica to close its banks Monday as a precaution despite the absence of Y2K-related glitches there during the weekend. The government has requested that banks use the day to check all computers before opening Tuesday, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

But in parts of the Middle East, where Sunday was the first work day of 2000, Y2K failed again to pose major problems -- as it failed to do worldwide on New Year's Eve.

Banks and stock exchanges in Egypt and Kuwait, among the first to open in 2000, reported no signs of Y2K problems.

Egypt, whose markets and banks held mock trading Saturday to test the transition, declared the system bug-free.

"The Central Bank (of Egypt) has received reports from 50 banks working in the country that all banking operations were carried out Sunday normally and with no problems," Egypt's Middle East News Agency quoted Mahmoud Abu el-Oyoun, the bank's deputy governor, as saying.

In Kuwait, where the exchange is considered one of the most active in the Arab world, officials had worked on potential Y2K problems for a year.

Safaak al-Rukeibi, deputy general manager of the market, told the Kuwait News Agency that "all trading operations were normal and there were no problems whatsoever."

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, post-New Year's buying and selling began on the virtual trading floor at 5:30p.m. local time (2330 GMT). The online system underwent final testing Saturday.

"Everything opened on schedule and is running as expected," said CME spokesman William Burks, who said he expected everything to continue to go smoothly.

The exchange runs on more than 230 computer systems with more than 8,000 programs.

Israeli banks and exchanges were closed Sunday, but government agencies reported no significant trouble and closed its Y2K monitoring center because "there was no reason" to keep it open, said Efraim Lapid, an administration spokesman.

Good news prompts reduction in Y2K monitoring

As the lack of Y2K glitches has become apparent worldwide, governments and organizations have been shutting down or scaling back their Y2K monitoring centers.

Canada has canceled all its Y2K briefings for the coming days. Britain's Government Millennium Center was expected to have a staff of 15 by Monday, down from 40 people on Friday night.

Singapore Airlines closed its Y2K command center Sunday, and the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for air safety, sent some workers home, as did the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York has reduced its Y2K monitoring staff as well, according to a spokesman.

In Washington, the Federal Reserve Board said its so-called health check of financial institutions was proceeding without problems and that it would continue to operate a command center around the clock through Tuesday or Wednesday.

President Clinton's appointed top man on the Y2K issues, John Koskinen said he planned to scale back the United States' $50 million, 24-hour Y2K-tracking effort earlier than originally scheduled.

But Koskinen predicted some problems for some small businesses that have adopted a "wait and see" policy about Y2K. He warned that some credit card machines might not work, software programs might fail and voice-mail systems could go down.

Officials warn of Leap Day glitches

"I think by the time we get to Tuesday or Wednesday, we'll fold up our tents until we see how the world does on Leap Day on February 29," Koskinen said.

Computers often suffer glitches on that date because most automated computer systems are programmed to know that years divisible by 100 are normally not leap years.

But some computers may not have been programmed to know the exception to that rule: years divisible by 400, such as 2000.

But industry leaders and government officials continued to caution Sunday against declaring total victory against the bug.

Hackers unleash first computer viruses of 2000

Computer Associates International, a software analysis company, warned Sunday that hackers would be playing on computer users' Y2K fears by introducing viruses and additional destructive computer programs onto the Internet.

It said in a statement that a new Portuguese "Happy New Year" program called "Feliz.Trojan" is disguised as a benign applications and could cause damage if opened.

Computer Associates also warned of a new Microsoft Word macro virus called "Armagidon," which infects Word documents by spreading through e-mails, shared drives, and floppy disks.

And the company also warned computer users of a virus named "Wscript/Kak," which infects Microsoft Windows98 systems.

Few significant Y2K problems reported

Governments around the world were beginning to gain an overview of Y2K problems that popped up New Year's Eve.

Europe and the United States encountered few significant Y2K-related problems. But three hospitals in Sweden reported a breakdown New Year's Day involving a piece of heart monitoring equipment. A technician quickly fixed the glitch.

One small glitch affected a program in a French defense satellite. The satellite, called the Syracuse II, links Paris with French peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. The French Defense Ministry said the glitch had no effect on troops in the field.

The bug also hindered several U.S. military satellites on New Year's eve, according to the Pentagon.

Koskinen told CNN on Sunday that the Pentagon failed to notify him about a major Y2K computer problem that blinded several orbiting U.S. spy satellites Friday, until 15 hours after the problem was discovered.

The Pentagon problem, which was repaired in a few hours, was one of the largest Y2K related problems the U.S. has faced, Koskinen said.

Koskinen defended the Pentagon's decision to keep the satellite glitch quiet.

"As you can imagine, when you have a problem like that you don't talk about it until you get it fixed," he said. "We don't want to give our enemies anymore information than they need," Koskinen said.

The Pentagon has reported spending $3.6 billion to prepare its 2,100 critical systems for the Y2K rollover.

Berlin Bureau Chief Chris Burns, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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