Phone trades save day

FOR a few hours yesterday, oldfashioned telephone trading saved the world’s biggest metals market from total standstill.

The London Metal Exchange was hit by a four-hour delay to the start of electronic trading on Friday. A computer problem meant brokers had to rely on phones so that Asian traders could place deals until the electronic trade system went live again at 4.55am.

It is the latest in a series of challenges for the London Metal Exchange. Earlier this week a structural fault at its London building was revealed, forcing trading to move to a site in Chelmsford, Essex. Anselm Li, head of sales and trading at broker Triland Metals Singapore Pte Ltd, said: ‘At first the clients were frustrated, that’s for sure, but we just had to wait for the restart of the platform’.

Trading normally starts at about 1am, so the fault occurred during business hours in China, the world’s biggest metals buyer.

The exchange operates Europe’s last open-outcry trading floor at its 10 Finsbury Square home.