London Stock Exchange suffers first major trading blackout in years

Trading on the London Stock Exchange failed to start Thursday morning after the opening auction was delayed in a rare disruption for one of the largest equity markets in the world.

A spokesman for the LSE blamed a “technical issue” for the one-hour delay with trading returning at 9am.

LSE later said that trading was now operating as normal but failed to provide a specific reason for its first major trading blackout in more than seven years.

The market was largely flat once it finally opened, with the FTSE 100 gaining around 0.2 percent from Wednesday’s close.