SPIMEX on Thursday suspends trading temporarily in sections of commodity market because of tech issues

MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - The St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) on Thursday afternoon has suspended trading temporarily in sections of the commodity market, the exchange said in a statement.

"Trading in the commodity market sections of JSC SPIMEX has been suspended temporarily. The reasons are being specified. The time when trading will resume will be announced later. SPIMEX is doing everything necessary in order to resume trading," according to the statement.

Traders in the "Petroleum Products" section have reported that they have encountered tech problems on Thursday owing to not being able to access the SPIMEX terminal.

SPIMEX later reported that trading was suspended at 11:45 a.m. Moscow Time owing to "a malfunction in the central trading server of the ETS [e-trading system] of the commodity markets".

"Owing to the occurrence of these circumstances that interfere with the regular procedures for trading in the JSC SPIMEX commodity sections, a decision was taken to suspend trading, as based on the rules for conducting organized trading in the commodity sections," the exchange said in an updated statement.