Trading Statement

London Stock Exchange Plc
23 September 2004

23 September 2004


                           PRE-CLOSE PERIOD UPDATE
                          London Stock Exchange plc


Unless otherwise stated, the following commentary refers to the five months
ended 31 August 2004 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 six months ending 30 September 2004.

The Exchange's trading performance was satisfactory, helped by resilient trading
volumes particularly on SETS, the electronic book.


Issuer Services

New issues on the Exchange's markets increased from 73 to 183 over the period,
including 129 IPOs (2003: 25).  The increase was primarily attributable to the
continued strong performance of AIM, the Exchange's international market for
smaller, growing companies, which contributed 158 new issues (2003: 58).

The total number of companies on the Exchange's markets at 31 August 2004
increased slightly to 2,762 (2003: 2,701).  Of these 2,762 companies, 917 were
on AIM (2003: 707).


Broker Services

The total number of equity bargains was 25.5 million, up 14 per cent on the same
period last year (2003: 22.3 million).  The average number of daily equity
bargains increased 14 per cent from 215,000 to 245,000 reflecting further growth
in volumes on SETS, the electronic order book.  The total value of equity
bargains rose to £1.8 trillion (2003: £1.4 trillion).

Average daily SETS bargains increased 25 per cent to 154,000 (2003: 123,000).
Contributing to this growth was the success of SETSmm, launched in November
2003, which had average daily bargains of 13,000 during the period.  For the
first five months of the year the average value of a SETS bargain has remained
steady at £22,000.

Off book bargains decreased 15 per cent to an average 46,000 bargains per day
(2003: 54,000).  The daily average number of international bargains for the
period rose to 45,000 (2003: 38,000) whilst average yield per international
bargain fell.

The EUROSETS Dutch Trading Service commenced in May 2004.  Market share picked
up from July, and subsequently order book trading has on average been around
three per cent.


Derivatives Services

EDX London traded a total of 7.9 million contracts during the first five months
of the financial year (in the previous five months to 31 March 2004: 8.3
million).


Information Services

At 31 August 2004, the total number of terminals receiving real time Exchange
data was 91,000, broadly unchanged from last year (2003: 90,000).  Approximately
80,000 terminals were attributable to professional users, down 2,000 on the
previous year (2003: 82,000) and in line with the end of the first quarter of
the current financial year.

Proquote, the Exchange's provider of financial market software and data
services, increased its number of installed screens to 2,300, up from 2,100 at
30 June 2004.


Current Trading

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

"The Exchange has made a steady start to the financial year.  Trading volumes
were resilient over the summer and professional terminal numbers have remained
unchanged during this financial year.  New issues on the main market remain at
low levels, however activity on AIM has been encouraging.  Overall, this
performance gives us confidence for a satisfactory outcome for the half year."

The Exchange will release its Interim Results for the half year ending 30
September 2004 on 11 November 2004.


Further information is available from:

London Stock Exchange     John Wallace - Media                     020 7797 1222
                          Paul Froud - Investor Relations          020 7797 1186
Finsbury                  James Murgatroyd                         020 7251 3801



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