LONDON, November 29. /TASS/. The London Metal Exchange (LME) has won a lawsuit over cancellation of nickel trading in March 2022 following a sharp rise in prices after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, The Times reported.

The nearly $500 million lawsuit filed by Elliott Management and US brokerage Jane Street was heard in London's High Court. Both companies argued that the LME had acted "unlawfully when it cancelled trades worth about $12 billion on March 8 last year, after the price of the exchange’s benchmark three-month nickel futures contract experienced an unprecedented spike above $100,000 a tonne," the newspaper said. Trading resumed on March 16, 2022.

The court rejected their arguments and ruled that the exchange "entitled to a wide margin of discretion, particularly when faced with an urgent situation."

LME welcomed the court’s decision. "It has always been our position that the decisions taken on March 8, 2022 averted significant and systemic damage, to both the nickel market and to the LME’s other metals markets and derivatives markets more widely," LME said in a statement.

The hedge fund has already announced that it will appeal the verdict.

Currently, the cost of nickel on the London Stock Exchange is about $16,000 per ton.