London Stock Exchange struggles with system problems

The London Stock Exchange suspended trading on Monday in the latest of a series of systems problems, and several hours into its normal trading day was still battling to reconnect customers.
The LSE, the the world number-three exchange by traded volume in the first half of this year, opened for trading as usual at 0700 GMT, but connectivity problems left some brokers unable to trade, so it was forced to suspend trading at 0815 GMT .
"We experienced connectivity issues which affected some customers and suspended trading. We will now do the systems work that we need to do and bring customers back on gradually," said a spokeswoman.
Later, around noon, a spokeswoman said some customers were being reconnected.
"Now people are reconnecting," she said. "Once everyone has reconnected we will announce a 15 minute period for people to be able to focus on pricing before the auction starts."
The exchange gave no details on what had caused the problem.
The LSE faces growing competition from new entrants to the sector and its share price has fallen sharply as a consequence this year.