Share trading in London delayed by technical issue

Trading in the biggest shares listed on the London Stock Exchange was delayed for more than an hour, in the longest outage in more than eight years.

Shares in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indexes were affected, although smaller stocks traded as normal at 08:00.

The LSE said trading was delayed while it investigated a "potential trading services issue".

When trading eventually began, the FTSE 100 - which had fallen to a six-month low on Thursday - rose, and finished up 0.7% to 7,117.15.

The London Stock Exchange said it had "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," a spokesperson for the exchange said.