After trading halt, what next for Nasdaq?

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

A day after trading on the Nasdaq was halted for three hours, analysts say the stock exchange's credibility is likely to bear the brunt of the fall-out with the implications limited for broader trading in U.S. stocks.

Nasdaq on Thursday said a "connectivity issue between an exchange participant" had prompted it to stop trading. The trading halt was the longest shutdown at the exchange in recent memory, sparking confusion that impacted some of the biggest companies in the U.S. such as Apple and Facebook.

(Read more: Nasdaq: 'Connectivity issue' led to three-hour shutdown)

Analysts say Nasdaq will now have to work hard to restore its reputation as a stock exchange operator, with Thursday's incident following trading problems with the initial public offering (IPO) of Facebook in May last year.

"This is an issue about the Nasdaq and how it can it compete against other exchanges – it comes on top of the Facebook issue a while back," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the consultancy The Lindsey Group, told CNBC Asia's "Squawk Box."

"If you're a company, you get to decide: do you want to list on the Nasdaq or the NYSE [New York Stock Exchange]? So from a competitive standpoint Nasdaq needs to do a lot of work to regain its reputation," he added.

Shares of Nasdaq OMX, the company that operates the tech-heavy Nasdaq, fell to their lowest level since early May when trading on the exchange resumed on Thursday and closed more than 3 percent lower at $30.46.

(Read more: As Nasdaq gets another black eye, industry under scrutiny)

"Clearly the NYSE should benefit from this, but the NYSE is not fool-proof either as that also relies more on technology. So the NYSE should benefit from a reputational standpoint, but they've also had problems from a technical standpoint," Boockvar said.

The trading glitch comes at a bad time for financial markets, where trade has been volatile in recent months as investors anticipate a potential pull-back in the U.S. Federal Reserve's asset-purchase program aimed at supporting the economy.

"The trading halt doesn't change our view on investing in the U.S. markets as we take a long-term view," Alex Friedman, chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, told CNBC.

"What it does do is hurt sentiment when you need sentiment to be heading in a positive direction. These things [technical problems] do happen in markets, so I don't think it's as big a deal as it seems right now," he added.

U.S. markets closed higher on Thursday, with all three major stock indices holding onto their gains after the Nasdaq re-opened from the trading halt. Asian markets were generally higher on Friday, suggesting the Nasdaq trading halt had limited impact on broader market sentiment.

(Read more: Nasdaq shuts down, but stock market shrugs it off)

"Technical problems do happen. On a broader note, exchanges do need to look at how they can make trading more efficient," said David Poh, regional head of asset allocation at Societe Generale Private Banking.

— By CNBC.Com's Dhara Ranasinghe; follow her on Twitter @DharaCNBC