London Metal Exchange Resumes Trade After Technical Glitch — Update

By David Winning and Kimberley Kao

The London Metal Exchange delayed the start of trading on Friday due to technical issues, temporarily stifling activity as commodities markets experience one of their wildest weeks.

Trading on the LME, which sets benchmark prices for a range of commodities including copper and aluminum, was offline for roughly one hour. The LME’s electronic platform usually starts trading at 1.00 a.m. London time.

The outage happened after days of intense volatility in metals markets as traders responded to triggers such as the threat of U.S. military action against Iran and renewed tariff threats by the White House against allies including South Korea and Canada.

Copper prices have jumped to a record high as a weaker dollar and demand for physical assets fuels a buying frenzy. On Thursday, three-month copper futures on the LME surged by as much as 10% at their peak.

The LME outage was the second to roil a major exchange in as many months. In late November, CME Group wasn’t able to offer trading in futures tied to U.S. stock indexes, Treasurys, crude oil and more for over 10 hours because a data center that it relied on had overheated.

Write to Kimberley Kao at [email protected]