Investors were left in limbo as the London Stock Exchange halted trading due to a technical glitch, dealing an embarrassing blow to its new systems.
The LSE, which launched its new trading system last week, suspended dealings before the opening bell on Friday morning in the latest in a string of technical problems.
It blamed issues with the market data technology and said it was investigating the problem.
The LSE’s woes come at a bad time for traders, with major economic news in the UK after the latest gross domestic product figures and ongoing volatility amid the Libyan political crisis.
Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, said: “It’s yet another glitch to trading and traders, who still remember the same issues that halted trading for some three hours in 2009, and they will undoubtedly be venting fury this morning at the LSE.
“At a time of uncertainty in the markets, where traders are having to keep on their toes with the situation in Libya, the last thing they need is an unexpected halt to trading.”
The technical troubles came in the same week that Borsa Italiana – the LSE’s Milan platform – suffered a five-hour outage.
The LSE’s new Millennium Exchange trading system has got off to a rocky start since being rolled out on the group’s smaller Turquoise platform last October. Trading was suspended for two hours on Turquoise in November, after teething problems led to glitches on the second day of operation. It is also thought the LSE is facing claims that technical problems meant prices were not correctly displayed for some traders last week.
The difficulties present a headache for the LSE as it comes under increasing competition. Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the LSE, has led the push for new technology to improve the exchange in the face of rivalry from the likes of Chi-X Europe.
Meanwhile, the LSE has been joining forces globally in a bid to increase its scale and might. It unveiled a deal to merge with Canada’s TMX, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, earlier this month.
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