As FO Week went to press London Metal Exchange (LME) was waiting to hear if a request by commodity broker Spectron to withdraw a complaint made to the UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about the exchange's extension of electronic trading hours had been granted.
OFT had previously confirmed that it had blocked the exchange from expanding trading on its electronic platform Select as part of an inquiry into allegations the exchange is squeezing out potential competition. However, all three parties confirmed on 2 March that Spectron had requested to withdraw its complaint.
While the regulator said it was considering the request it did not give any indication as to when a decision might be reached, leaving LME in limbo regarding a change it had planned to make on 1 March.
OFT had issued an "interim measures direction" to LME on 27 February to prevent it from extending Select...