London Stock Exchange frozen for three and a half hours

London Stock Exchange frozen for three and a half hours

Trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was halted for three and a half hours today after a major technical error prevented any transactions from going through.

Prices were static from 10:35am, when the FTSE 100 stood at 5,264.97 points, down 99.84 points, until 2pm when it reopened.

Upon resuming trading shares recovered slightly from lows, and by 14:04pm the blue chip index was at 5,267.2, off 98.29 points.

A spokesperson said earlier that the exchange had experienced 'connectivity issues' on all order driven securities, and it had therefore put shares into an auction period, much like pre-market trading conditions.

The freeze meant traders could put in orders and these could be matched up, but no deals could actually be executed so no actual buying or selling went through.

While some news services suggested the suspension was linked to market jitters about the impact of soaring debt worries in Dubai, traders dismissed the chatter.

'We're hearing talk of shorting on banks but we have seen no evidence of that,' said one trader.

He said he had heard there were also problems on LSE-owned Borsa Italiana - which shares the same technology as the LSE.

A spokesperson for the LSE poured cold water on talk that the exchange had been hit by a surge in activity.

'Volumes have been a little bit higher than on the last few days, but not significantly higher,' he said.

The problems also affected platforms such as Chi-X, and Project Turquoise, leaving the entire market moribund.

Upon re-opening, banking shares remained among the hardest hit. was the worst performer, off 5.7% at 33.73p, while peers were also down sharply.

The freeze on trading was the worst to hit the exchange since September last year when it shut for around 7 hours.

citywire.co.uk