LSE connectivity glitch halts trading

At the time of writing, trading on the London Stock Exchange is not happening, and hasn't been possible since before 9 o'clock this morning (trading began smoothly at 8, as usual, but something unspecified happened afterwards to force the LSE to shut down customer access to its trading platform).

A spokesperson for the LSE told us a moment ago that they are "putting the processes in place for firms to reconnect".

"After issues were identified, we closed off customer connections to bring connectivity back in a controlled way," the spokesperson said, while confirming that all trading had ceased, and was yet to recommence.

More soon, no doubt - it'll be interesting to know what went wrong, and how much money this is costing on a day when the markets are generally rallying around the world.