SINGAPORE, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Stock traders in Singapore reported on Friday technical problems such as delays in market prices and trade executions on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) .

"I think the problem is across the board. It takes about 7 to 10 seconds after keying in the orders before the actual trade," a trader said, adding that the delays had surfaced after the 90-minute lunch break at 2 p.m. (0600 GMT) when the market saw a sharp decline.

"There were difficulties encountered with the SGX trading system today," said a spokeswoman for DBS Vickers Securities, a unit of DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest lender.

SGX said in a one-paragraph statement that it would accept fewer prices from designated market makers of structured warrants "in view of the large number of order changes this afternoon".

It did not elaborate on the reasons behind the delay and SGX officials could not be reached for comment.

A second trader said he was facing slow access to the trading system: "There's a bottle neck now, with volumes getting thick."

Singapore's blue-chip Straits Times Index fell 6 percent amid heavy selling on Friday, the third straight session of losses, and erased all of the 23.5 percent gain recorded since the start of this year.

SGX, Asia's third-largest listed bourse, in February halted its derivatives trading system for several hours after it encountered technical problems.

In March, traders had problems accessing its ageing Singapore Exchange Securities Order Processing System, or Sesops.

SGX said last month its net revenue from trading derivatives, which includes structured warrants, rose 22 percent to S$117 million in its financial year ended June 30, 2007.

REUTERS