MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The start of trading on the London Metal Exchange was delayed on Friday due to technical issues, with trading still set to begin nearly three hours into the session.
Trading was due to start at 0000 GMT, but the exchange was still investigating the problem at 0245 GMT.
"The opening of LMESelect has been delayed due to technical issues relating to members' ability to connect to the market," a spokesman at LME-owner Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said.
"The LME is working with its network provider to resolve the issue as soon as possible such that the market can open without further issue."
Traders said the outage was dampening overall interest in metal markets. Copper traded on the Shanghai exchange was up 0.1 percent in morning trade on low volumes.
"The China currency fix has had a decent move this morning, so there may have been more enquiries," said a trader at a brokerage at Hong Kong.
"We are getting some enquiries but people are holding back because they want to see a price on the screen."