London stock market rallies after worst outage in eight years - as it happened
London traders were unable to buy and sell shares in Britain's top companies this morning, as unexplained glitch strikes the City
- Latest: Trading underway, after longest glitch since 2011
- BREAKING: Trading glitch hits London Stock Exchange
- Second outage in 14 months
- Third major UK systems failure this month
4.41pm BST
Update: It takes more than a nasty system outage to hold the Footsie back. Today, anyway.
The UK's blue-chip index has just closed for the day, with solid gains, as traders put this morning's 100-minute outage behind them.
Better late than never! The FTSE finally was able to join the market relief rally on Friday after being held at the gate this morning.
Working on the hopeful assumption that central banks are going to step in and try and force the global economy into a U-turn away from a recession, the markets were fairly uniform in their gains.
3.58pm BST
There should be red faces at the London stock exchange today, says Fiona Cincotta of City Index.
She writes:
After a rare delay, trading on the FTSE finally kicked off almost two hours later than usual on Friday. The opening auction started at 09:20 with stocks opening for trading at 09:40, well after the standard 08:00am start in what was the longest glitch since 2011. This is the second glitch in two years, the last one was a year ago saw the FTSE open 1 hour late.
There is no hiding from this one, the two-hour delay to open is an embarrassment for LSE and raises plenty of questions over the group's technology. The timing is pretty horrendous for LSE, just weeks after it sealed a deal to buy Refintiv, in its quest to become a global markets and information powerhouse. LSE's reputation as one of the most reliable stock exchanges in Europe is starting to be questioned.
3.54pm BST
Unless there's a strong late rally, Wall Stree will post its third weekly decline in a row.
Stocks are down around 1.7% this week, mainly due to Wednesday's tumble (which wiped 800 points off the Dow).
Despite 2-day rally, Dow appears on its way to 3rd consecutive losing week, and this was one of the worst of the year. https://t.co/QY0GFNV1XU pic.twitter.com/uOlcNE7ONN
2.55pm BST
Time for a quick recap
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2.42pm BST
The New York Stock Exchange is showing the LSE how it's done, by opening smartly, and bang on time.
Shares are rising at the open, as traders try to put a rough week behind them. The Dow has gained almost 200 points, as the futures market predicted earlier, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining 1%.
1.54pm BST
No-one is immune to the kind of systems failures that hit the London Stock Exchange this morning, of course.
Back in 2015, Bloomberg's systems crashed for several hours - leaving traders unable to operate, and even forcing the UK government to delay a debt auction.
1.24pm BST
The US stock market is expected to rally when it opens in an hour's time (unless London's tech gremlins scamper across the Atlantic and wreck more havoc).
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 230 points in the futures market - which would recover a chunk of Wednesday's 800-point tumble.
US Opening Calls:#DOW 25807 +0.93%#SPX 2874 +0.91%#NASDAQ 7570 +1.15%#RUSSELL 1476 +0.96%#FANG 2482 +1.73%#IGOpeningCall
1.04pm BST
Money is still pouring into the world's government bond markets today, as asset managers look for a place of safety.
12.34pm BST
Now that London's stock market is back in business, City investors can return to fretting about the risks of a global downturn.
11.59am BST
Here's our news story on the gremlins taking control of the London stock market.
Related: London Stock Exchange hit by worst outage since 2011
11.43am BST
The LSE won't say exactly what went wrong this morning, apart that the problem centred on its software.
Here's the official statement:
London Stock Exchange experienced a technical software issue this morning that affected trading in certain securities, including FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 stocks.
Following resolution of the issue regular trading in all securities commenced at 09.40.
11.05am BST
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould says today's problems have livened up an otherwise dull morning:
Investors would have been yearning for a quiet Friday after a week of turmoil for the markets driven by recession fears.
"And it looked like just such a peaceful interlude was on the cards until technical issues at the London Stock Exchange delayed the start of trading in FTSE 350 stocks, delaying an expected rebound for the index."
10.36am BST
Today's stock market glitch hasn't affected the pound, which has just jumped to its highest level in eight days.
Sterling has gained 0.5% against the US dollar to $1.2141, as the campaign to prevent a no-deal Brexit in October gathers pace.
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10.18am BST
The London Stock Exchange has just revealed that some buy and sell orders that should have expired this morning are still lurking on its trading platform.
That may explain why trading was delayed for so long.
GTD orders expected to expire this morning have remained in the system.
These orders cannot be traded against and are still being advertised via Market Data. This has caused crossed order books. This is being investigated and an update will be provided at 10:30.
10.05am BST
The London stock market seems to be trading normally now, after being stricken for more than an hour and a half.
Every sector is higher, with telecoms, financial stocks and healthcare leading the way.
FTSE 100 & FTSE 250 resumes trading, 1hr 40 mins after its European peers due to 'technical difficulties' at the London Stock Exchange. All moving higher after a turbulent week in markets.
No full explanation from the LSE as yet as to what was behind the glitch. But it hasn't exactly helped the frayed nerves of investors who have been moving funds to safe haven assets on fears of a global slowdown.
9.52am BST
This is more like it!
9.47am BST
The market has "transitioned to regular trading", says the LSE's status page, as it picks up the pieces following this morning's debacle.
9.43am BST
Bad news, City traders, you can't bunk off to the pub to watch the cricket.
The London Stock Exchange has suddenly burst into life, as traders finally get the chance to trade on one of the world's top stock markets.
9.35am BST
The Stock Exchange is creaking into life!
The FTSE 250 index (which contains mid-sized companies) just rose by 0.01% -- a teensy change, which means something has started trading.
9.27am BST
Trading is now expected to begin at 9.40am - 100 minutes late.
UPDATE: The LSE will open for trading at 0940. https://t.co/VgTh2Tgmly
9.25am BST
Reuters points out that today's outage is the longest since February 2011, when the market was shuttered until lunchtime.
9.24am BST
BREAKING: The London Stock Exchange says an opening auction is underway now.
That's a sign that the unexplained problem might be fixed, and that trading could begin soon.
9.22am BST
Today's technical problems are the third to strike the UK this month alone.
Last Wednesday, thousands of passengers at British Airways were stranded after its systems collapsed. Two days later, major power cuts struck the country after the National Grid's network failed.
There are too many "IT glitches" have been happening recently. BA, LSE, next?
9.10am BST
Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets.com, agrees that the outage is frustrating:
Still waiting...the FTSE cash equity market has failed to open and remains closed for the time being. The FTSE 350 is closed but AIM trading is still ok.
These things happen - the last delayed start to trading was only a year ago. Technical glitches are inevitable, frustrating as it is for everyone.
FTSE futures are trading - and our fair value estimate suggests the cash market will open up strongly around 7115.
9.08am BST
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is currently experiencing technical issues and is yet to open for trading. We are expecting an update from them at around 0915. We'll keep you posted. https://t.co/OrhU4HWEoy
9.05am BST
Frustration is mounting in the City.
London's stock market has now been frozen for an hour -- leaving traders unable to buy and sell shares in the 350 biggest companies listed on the FTSE.
8.52am BST
The London Stock Exchange still hasn't got its systems working.
It has just told traders that the next update will come at 9.15am BST.
8.46am BST
The technical outage in London is preventing UK stock traders from joining in today's market rally.
As you can see, every other major European stock index is higher this morning - as shares recover some of this week's heavy losses.
Investors are more relaxed this morning than they've been for the rest of the week but it would be naive to expect it to continue. There's been plenty of whipsaw action this week so to assume today will remain calm may be asking a bit much.
The FTSE failed to open on time on Friday due to a potential trading service issue. Unfortunately, I don't think we can blame Brexit for this one but maybe I'll be proven wrong.
8.39am BST
traders waiting for the LSE to finally open FTSE for trade like...
"technical issues" pic.twitter.com/TxdXE9NAo9
8.32am BST
Stock market traders are venting their frustration at the London Stock Market's IT systems, by posting memes on social media.
I think the @LondonSouthEast IT guy worked on the wrong server by mistake #LSE to #LSE pic.twitter.com/hXa2GOpwi9
LSE CEO this morning:
"Hey guys it's Pizza Friday how did the opening bell go......" pic.twitter.com/0vR616lpMP
8.28am BST
Nothing is moving on the FTSE 100 this morning, as the LSE scrambles to work out what's gone wrong.
8.20am BST
This is the second time in 14 months that London's stock exchange has suffered problems.
In June 2018, the opening of trading was delayed by an hour - a serious embarrassment to the City. That was the first outage in seven years.
This is the second "glitch" at the #LSE in just over a year. The outage last year lasted an hour.
8.18am BST
The LSE says it is "currently investigating a potential trading services issue", which is stopping investors buying and selling shares this morning.
8.13am BST
There's a problem at the London stock exchange!
Trading has been delayed, due to a "potential Trading Services issue". It should have begun at 8am sharp.
LSE delayed open for FTSE 100 & 250 Securities. Exchange issue. $FTSE #FTSE
FTSE failure to launch
8.06am BST
The prospect of a new ECB bazooka is acting like catnip to European traders.
Germany's DAX index has jumped 0.4% in early trading, while Paris's CAC and Milan's FTSE MIB are both 0.3% higher.
7.57am BST
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"It's important that we come up with a significant and impactful policy package in September.
When you're working with financial markets, it's often better to overshoot than undershoot, and better to have a very strong package of policy measures than to tinker."
ECB Has Big Bazooka Primed for September, Says Top Official https://t.co/9PLK2oRbQp via @WSJ
European Opening Calls:#FTSE 7108 +0.57%#DAX 11484 +0.62%#CAC 5268 +0.60%#MIB 20133 +0.56%#IBEX 8563 +0.52%
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