Stock Exchange Notice N53/00

London Stock Exchange
19 October 2000



For the attention of the
chairman/senior partner/compliance officer,
all member firms                                     N53/00

STOCK EXCHANGE NOTICE

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR - TRADING DAYS AND MARKET HOURS

Introduction

1. Stock Exchange Notice N49/00, issued on 19 September 2000, set out the 
   Christmas and New Year trading days for 2000/2001.

2. This Notice provides further information on trading days over this period, 
   in particular market hours and trade reporting deadlines on Friday 22 
   December 2000 and Friday 29 December 2000. 

Market hours

3. Details of market holidays and trading days are as follows:

   Friday 22 December 2000              Markets close at 12:30 
   Monday 25 December 2000              Closed all day
   Tuesday 26 December 2000             Closed all day
   Wednesday 27 December 2000           Normal business day
   Thursday 28 December 2000            Normal business day
   Friday 29 December 2000              Markets close at 12:30 
   Monday 1 January 2001                Closed all day
   Tuesday 2 January 2001               Normal business day

Friday 22 December 2000 and Friday 29 December 2000

Domestic equity market 

4. The order book will open at 07:50 hours and the uncrossing process will run
   at 08:00 hours as normal.  At 12.30 hours, continuous automatic execution  
   on the order book will cease and the closing auction period will commence. 
   The order book will close at 13:00 hours.

5. The SEAQ and SEATS PLUS pre-mandatory quote period will commence at 07:30
   hours and the mandatory quote period will run from 08:00 to 12:30 hours.
   The trading system will close at 13:15 hours.  The mandatory quote period
   for convertibles will run from 08:05 to 12:30 hours.

Traditional options market 

6. The traditional options mandatory quote period will run from 08:00 to 12:30
   hours.

International equity market 

7. The mandatory quote period for all sectors on SEAQ International will close
   no later than 12:30 hours with the SEAQ International service closing down 
   at 13:15 hours.  Trading hours in individual country sectors may be subject
   to variation according to local market holidays.

Gilt-edged and fixed interest market

8. The gilt-edged and fixed interest market mandatory quote period will run
   from 08:30 to 12:30 hours.

Trade reporting

9. The trade reporting periods for Friday 22 December 2000 and Friday 29
   December 2000 will run from 07:15 to 13:15 hours.  Transactions executed
   outside these times should be reported between 07:15 and 07:45 hours on the
   next trading day.

Regulatory News Service (RNS)

10. RNS will commence at the usual time of 07:00 hours and close at 13:30
    hours.  Announcements must be submitted by 12:30 hours to ensure release
    by 13:30 hours.

Andrew McStravick
Head of Market Operations

Any comments or queries on this Notice should be addressed to Regulatory
Development, telephone [phone] (STX 33700) or 
Email: [e-mail].

This Stock Exchange Notice will be available on the website at
www.londonstockexchange.com/regulation/notices/