The London Metal Exchange’s plans to extend the trading hours of its electronic system, LME Select, from Wednesday to cover the Asian trading day have been thwarted by an interim ruling from the UK’s Office of Fair Trading.

This follows a complaint by Spectron Group, a voice broker in the base metals market. Spectron first complained to the OFT in July 2003 about the LME’s plans to extend the trading hours of LME Select, which opens from 7am to 7pm London time.