A finger did the erring

At 2pm yesterday, a broker placed an order to sell 500,000 QBE shares at 2, instead of $22.85. Within seconds the blue-chip insurance company's share price plummeted to 0.1.

As a result of a keyboard error, the All Ordinaries Index plunged

85 points and the S&P/ASX 200 Index 82 points in seconds.

The hearts of chief executives, stockbrokers and analysts skipped a beat as the key indices went into free fall, but it was a lone day trader who summed up the feeling best.

"I thought that was the crash we've been all expecting," posted "Biggie" on the hotcopper.com.au website. "Excuse me while I change my pants."

According to brokers, by not hitting the space bar between entering the volume and the price, one trader caused the market tumble.

The Australian Securities Exchange suspended all trading in QBE shares at 2.22pm and convened a meeting of the Dispute Governors Committee, which took place at 2.24pm. It ordered that all trades in QBE at below $22.20 a share be reversed. QBE returned to the boards at 2.35pm, after 15minutes of suffering for those watching the market.

"An error was made and it has been rectified," said ASX corporate relations manager Matthew Gibbs. "If you put in a selling price as low as 2 for a stock trading at $22.85, it's fairly evident you will have a sudden and dramatic .

"Because the price error was so drastic, it effectively removed the stock from the index."

QBE Insurance had no comment on the market event.

Many stockbrokers and analysts said they recognised the plunge immediately as an error. "A few of us were watching the screens when it happened. It was quite obviously a mistake," said Chris Brian, of Evans & Partners.

Mr Brian wondered what might have happened if the error had been of a lesser magnitude. "At 0.1 it was obviously an error. But, what if the broker entered $12.20, instead of $22.20, would the ASX still reverse the trade?"

Howard Elton of Intersuisse Stockbroking said: "There will be some red faces but the reality is there are human beings who push buttons. These things are accidental."

The broker responsible has one final weekend of anonymity - trades are settled after three days and other brokers can then examine the records and find the culprit.