LME Trading Restored After Two-Hour Halt Roiled Metals Markets

Electronic trading was halted in all contracts on the London Metal Exchange for more than two hours on Monday, with dealers unable to place orders in markets ranging from aluminum to zinc as they awaited further information on the cause of the outage.

The failure came at a critical moment in the metals calendar, as the market approaches the third Wednesday of the month — the main focus of liquidity in the LME’s contracts — just as commodity prices are being rocked by the war in Iran. The disruption came as the LME encountered an issue with its primary electronic matching engine, a spokesperson for the exchange said after trading resumed.