London Stock Exchange Group plc issued a routine update ahead of the close period relating to the six months ending 30 September 2008.

In summary, against a backdrop of testing market conditions, overall trading performance remains good:

* Average daily number of SETS trades increased strongly, up 27 per cent to 699,000, while average daily value traded was eight per cent down, a resilient performance in the context of the fall in the FTSE 100 which was on average 11 per cent lower compared with the corresponding period last year; trading at Borsa Italiana was down 13 per cent to 253,000 trades/day

* Demand for professional terminals receiving LSE real time data remained firm at 111,000, up 9,000 over last year though slightly down since the first quarter; professional users of Borsa Italiana data were up 6,000 to 161,000, unchanged since Q1

* In Issuer Services there were 100 new issues in London and 5 in Italy, with the Exchange maintaining its leading position in international IPOs

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

'Trading volumes on SETS have continued to increase, illustrating the vitality of our central price forming order book. The new tariff structure implemented at the start of September received strong positive feedback, and we continue to upgrade our trading platform with further planned enhancements to speed and capacity over the coming period. Our Issuer Services division turned in a good performance despite testing market conditions for equity issuance, with over 100 new issues, including 25 international companies. In our Information businesses, demand for data from our UK and Italian markets remains robust.

'The overall resilient performance of our operations in highly uncertain market conditions, and our continued business development, position us well to meet the challenges and realise the opportunities ahead.' -- www.londonstockexchange.com