Google shares price concern

Google shares dropped as much as 3.1% and then reversed most of the tumble within a second in a series of transactions that spurred concern the stock was hit by a computerised-trading error.

Google slid as low as $775 in two trades totalling 210 shares at 9.37am New York time and then recovered most of the loss within the same second, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock had opened the session with a gain, climbing to as high as $803.96. It traded down 0.1% on the day at $798.87 as of 2.20pm in New York.

The decline wasn’t large enough to trigger a trading circuit breaker that would pause Google shares. That would require a drop of 10% in five minutes. The shares are not yet part of a pilot programme to test a “limit-up/limit-down” system that will stop trades from occurring at a specified percentage above or below a stock’s rolling five-minute average price.