Trading Statement

London Stock Exchange Plc
27 March 2002

                                   PRE-CLOSE PERIOD UPDATE
                                  London Stock Exchange plc

Unless otherwise stated, the following commentary refers to the 11 months ended
28 February 2002 and, where appropriate, to the corresponding period last year.

London Stock Exchange plc (the "Exchange") today issued a routine update ahead
of the close period relating to the year ending 31 March 2002.

The Exchange's trading performance has continued to be resilient during a period
of economic uncertainty.

Broker Services

The total number of equity bargains was 46 million, up 28% on the same period
last year (2001: 36 million).  The increase in average daily bargains from
156,000 to 199,000 was largely underpinned by strong growth in volumes on SETS,
the electronic order book.  The average daily SETS bargains increased 92% to
69,000 (2001: 36,000).

Issuer Services

The total number of companies on the Exchange's markets was 2,878 (2001: 2,921)
at 28 February 2002.  There were 268 new issues on the Exchange's markets in the
period compared to 440 in the same period last year, reflecting continuing
weakness in the IPO market.

The number of companies on AIM, the Exchange's global market for smaller and
growing businesses, continued to grow.  At 28 February 2002, 638 companies were
traded on AIM (2001: 543).

Information Services

At 28 February 2002, the total number of terminals receiving Exchange data was
marginally lower than the previous year (2002: 105,000; 2001: 107,000).
Approximately 96,000 terminals were attributable to the professional user base,
in line with the previous year (2001: 96,000).

Commenting on current trading, Clara Furse, Chief Executive, said:

"The Exchange's businesses have continued to perform well during a period of
economic uncertainty.  We have made notable progress on a number of new
initiatives focused on continued growth of our core businesses, including the
completion of £12m enhancement to SETS and the development of Extranex, our new
global internet protocol network.  As a result, we continue to view the
prospects for the Exchange with confidence."

The London Stock Exchange expects to announce its preliminary results for the
year ending 31 March 2002 on 23 May 2002.

Further information is available from:

London Stock Exchange       John Wallace - Media                   020 7797 1222
                            Ruth Anagnos - Investor Relations      020 7797 3322
Finsbury                    James Murgatroyd / Melanie Gerlis      020 7251 3801


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange