The disruption came as the LME encountered an issue with its primary electronic matching engine, a spokesperson for the exchange said after trading resumed. The LME launched a new trading platform in March of last year as part of a broad technological overhaul designed partly to boost functionality for electronic traders. The spokesperson said the electronic market had been in a “technical halt”, but that inter-office trading, where brokers trade with one another over the phone and using electronic messaging, continued to be available. The LME planned to restore electronic trading on a secondary server after the closing prices window, the spokesperson said. There were no major moves in prices as trading resumed, with copper trading up 0.9% while aluminium was down 1.2%, broadly in line with levels seen prior to the halt.
