FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 reopen after glitch hits morning trading

Trading in FTSE 100 and 250 stocks has reopened after a software issue that delayed the starting bell this morning was resolved.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) said it had “experienced a technical software issue” that had “affected trading in certain securities” but that this had been resolved.

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Trading in shares in the UK’s biggest 350 companies resumed at 9.40am, over an hour and a half between the usual 8am starting time.

City A.M. understands futures trades data was still coming through to traders’ screens, but that cash equity trading in blue-chip and mid-cap shares had not begun as usual.

David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets, said earlier that he had not received any official notice and no time frame when the issue would be resolved.

Outages on the stock exchange are relatively common. This is the second time in 18 months that the London Stock Exchange has suffered a technical fault. Last time, the exchange was down for an hour.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at foreign exchange company Oanda, said the outage was due to “a potential trading services issue”.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we can blame Brexit for this one but maybe I’ll be proven wrong,” he said.

The FTSE 100 opened higher, as expected, when traders finally got going. The gains followed a bruising few days amid the raging US-China trade war. 

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It was up 0.4 per cent by 11am. France’s CAC 40 index ticked up 0.7 per cent in early trading, the pan-European Euronext 100 rose 0.8 per cent, and Germany’s Dax rose 0.6 per cent.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at trading platform Markets.com, said the outage had left “people sitting on their hands” in London.