Search Icon

LSE faces probe after Italian stock market is suspended

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is facing an official probe after its partner Borsa Italiana was forced to suspend all its markets for six hours on Tuesday due to a technical fault.

A man walks pass the London Stock Exchange in London
In a letter to Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the LSE, the Italian regulator demanded that 'necessary mechanisms are put in place so that an event of this kind is not repeated' Credit: Photo: AP

Traders in Italy, who were clamouring to process orders placed amid fears of the political fall-out in Libya, were left unable to trade on the exchange for most of the day.

Consob, the Italian financial regulator, has demanded an explanation from the LSE, which owns the bourse.

In a letter to Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the LSE, and Raffaele Jerusalami, the boss of Borsa Italiana, the Italian regulator demanded that "necessary mechanisms are put in place so that an event of this kind is not repeated".

When trading eventually resumed in the afternoon, the exchange, which includes Italy's biggest blue-chip stocks, fell by nearly 2pc. By the close the stocks had recovered 1.1pc.

Borsa Italiana said the problem had occurred with DDMPlus, its technology provider of real-time price information, which failed before the markets were due to open.

In a statement, the exchange said it wanted to "apologise and express its displeasure" and was "working to avoid this situation in the future." It said that it had "acted, as usual, with the aim to grant equal disclosure to all market participants".