(Reuters) – A group of hedge funds has filed a lawsuit against London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME Clear Ltd for canceling billions of dollars worth of trades in nickel contracts, parent company Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said on Monday.
AQR Capital Management, DRW Commodities, Flow Traders , Capstone Investment Advisors and Winton Capital Management Ltd are seeking damages of 80 million pounds ($96 million) for alleged losses incurred due to LME’s decision to cancel trading in nickel contracts in March last year, HKEX said.
In December, a high court judge dismissed a case against LME brought by AQR Capital Management and others that demanded phone call transcripts and meeting notes about the exchange’s decision to cancel nickel trades.
“The LME and LME Clear management are of the view that the claim is without merit,” HKEX said in a statement.
An extreme price spike in nickel trading led the world’s oldest and largest forum for metals to cancel all nickel trades and suspend trading for the first time since 1988.
LME also faces lawsuits from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates and Jane Street Global Trading, which are seeking damages of $456 million and $15.3 million, respectively.
LME is being probed by UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for possible misconduct.
($1 = 0.8333 pounds)
(Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
