00:02:04
ITN
Technical woes halt FTSE trading
Technical woes halt FTSE trading
Traders and investors have been left scrambling after the London Stock Exchange was hit by a technical glitch. By around 9am, when the problems arose, the FTSE 100 Index had surged 199.5 points to 5440.2 - almost 4 per cent - after mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bailed out by the US government. The LSE, which has not yet revealed the cause of the problems, is still working on restoring connectivity and will give markets 15 minutes' notice when it is ready to resume continuous trading. Trading volumes had been heavy following the news from the US, with around 270 million blue-chip shares changing hands in just over an hour before the system was shut down. Another major electronic exchange, the Intercontinental Exchange (Ice), also shut down its operations as a result of "technical issues". Ice, which is based in the US but has major operations in London, offers futures and other specialist financial contracts for commodities including crude oil, natural gas and electricity. A recorded message said: "The Ice trading platform is experiencing technical issues. As a result, all futures and Over-The-Counter markets have been closed. All unexecuted active orders in closed markets have been held."
ITN | September 8, 2008
