London open: Trading suspended

Trading in London has been halted after some technical glitches at the start of the day, the LSE announced this morning.The exchange said it is looking into the problem. It halted its SETS and SETSqx services, while uncrossing trades that took place in the opening auction are under investigation for possible cancellation. LSE moved its main market trading to the MillenniumIT system earlier this month.Early movements had shown an improvement on reports Saudi Arabia is prepared to increase crude supplies. The kingdom has entered "active talks" with European oil companies on how to meet the shortfall caused by the turmoil in LibyaState-controlled Lloyds Banking fell even though it swung back into an underlying profit last year as impairment charges almost halved and retail net margins improved. Pre-tax profits were £281m, down from £1bn, but on a continuing basis profits were £2.2bn against a loss of £6.4bn. Market forecasts had been for a profit between £1-1.8bn.The first set of results from International Airlines Group (IAG), the company formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, showed the group made a profit last year, despite higher fuel costs. The pro-forma results for 2010 are based on full year figures from Iberia and nine-month figures from British Airways, and showed 2010 revenue rose 10% to €14,798m from €13,456m in 2009. Profit before tax was €84m, compared to a loss of €1,158m in 2009.Defence firm Cobham has won a contract with US aircraft maker Boeing to provide hose and drogue aerial refuelling systems. The systems will be used on the US Air Force's new KC-46A tanker aircraft.Profits more than doubled last year at instruments group Spectris as recovery from the general recession came through much stronger than anticipated. Pre-tax profits soared to £120m, up from £54.2m, on sales of £902m, up from £787m. On an adjusted basis profits were over 90% better at £132m.