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LME says up to quarter of its electronic trade comes from Asia

By Melanie Burton

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Up to a quarter of electronic trading volume on the London Metal Exchange (LME) comes from Asia-based participants, the bourse's head said on Thursday.

That marks the first time the LME, the world's biggest marketplace for industrial metals such as copper and aluminium, has disclosed the size of electronic trade from Asia and comes as it is looking to boost its business in top metals consumer China.

"Ten-25 percent of outright trading on the electronic system comes from Asia," LME Chief Executive Garry Jones said at a conference in Hong Kong.

Jones also said that the exchange may accept yuan-denominated collateral for its London-listed products after the launch of its new clearing system, LME Clear, in September, although it has no plans to introduce yuan listed products in London.

The LME, which picked Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd <0388.HK> as the preferred bidder in a $2.2 billion (1.31 billion pounds) acquisition in 2012, has been trying to boost its presence in Asia.

It added Kaohsiung in Taiwan as a delivery point for base metals last year, but the holy grail for the bourse is to open metal warehousing facilities in China.

The LME has sought for many years to set up delivery networks in China, but Chinese laws currently forbid foreign exchanges from opening depots in mainland China.

Jones has said that he does not expect the rules to be changed in the near term.

On Thursday, he also said that the LME would decide later this year on the future of its open outcry trading ring.

(Writing by Fayen Wong; Editing by Joseph Radford)