Baltic Exchange says Mercuria's lawsuit over Hormuz freight losses harming market

* Mercuria alleges Baltic's tanker index failed to reflect Hormuz closure, ​distorting markets

* Baltic ⁠Exchange argues lawsuit itself is causing market uncertainty

* Judge ​orders expedited trial due to wider market concerns

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange, the world's top provider of benchmark shipping indices, on ​Friday hit ‌back at commodity trader Mercuria's London lawsuit over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the case was causing market ⁠uncertainty. Mercuria – one of the world's top energy and commodity ⁠traders – sued the Baltic Exchange last month over ​losses it said were caused by oil tanker pricing data that did not account for the effective closure of the strait.

Swiss-headquartered Mercuria said in documents filed at London's High Court on April 30 that the Baltic Exchange continued ​to publish ‌its benchmark crude tanker index, known as TD3C, despite the effective closure of the waterway. The TD3C route is based on voyages from the Gulf to China.

Mercuria alleges TD3C "no longer accurately or reliably represents the underlying market it is intended to measure", distorting and disrupting shipping and freight derivatives markets.

But lawyers representing the Baltic Exchange ​told London's High Court that the data it relied upon to publish TD3C was sufficiently accurate and reliable and ‌that it was Mercuria's case which was causing disruption in markets.

"It is the very fact and existence of this claim that is corrosive to market ‌certainty," the Baltic Exchange's lawyer James McClelland said at a brief preliminary hearing.

He argued the Baltic Exchange simply provided information to market participants and "benchmarking services would be simply unworkable" if exchanges were held liable to users.

David Wolfson, ​a lawyer representing Mercuria, said the trader was not the only market participant with concerns, citing a Financial Times report on Friday ‌saying that TotalEnergies is also considering suing the Baltic Exchange.

Mercuria said in documents filed last month that, while its alleged losses had not yet been quantified, they were "presently estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of ⁠U.S. dollars".

The ⁠Baltic Exchange's lawyer McClelland said, however, that the exchange's liability to its ‌users was limited to their subscription or membership fee or £5,000 ($6,710).

Judge Christopher Butcher ruled that an expedited trial should take place later this year, ​noting the "wider market concern in ​relation to the relevant benchmarking".

The London-headquartered Baltic Exchange, owned by Singapore's SGX, produces ‌daily benchmark rates and indices that are used across the world to trade and settle freight contracts. The Baltic has launched market consultations since the war began and also offered a back-up route to serve as an alternative benchmark.