The quoted price of London Stock Exchange shares stood at 1238p ($22.03) on April 27, 2006 at 14.00 hrs GMT.

The quoted price of London Stock Exchange shares stood at 1230p ($21.90) on April 25, 2006 at 14.30 hrs GMT.

The London Stock Exchange has denied that it has received an approach from the New York Stock Exchange.

It’s also being put about that the LSE hopes the NYSE will act as a white knight to deflect Nasdaq’s interest, while New York’s John Thain appears more interested in Euronext now that Nasdaq has got its teeth into the London exchange.

The UK Daily Mail quotes “a source” as saying: “Everyone is on the dance floor looking around frantically to make sure someone doesn’t waltz off with their favourite partner.”

Who then will be Lord of the Dance?

Nasdaq’s Chief Executive, Robert Greifeld, is expected to meet the London Stock Exchange’s Clara Furse soon, possibly mid-May.

Greifeld also said that the American exchange could just as easily be a seller of LSE stock as a buyer. That could of course be designed to take some of the heat out of the market to make the shares a little more palatable to buy.

Rumours are also continuing to fly around of a suggested merger between the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext. The NYSE’s John Thain is reported to have met the pan-European exchange’s boss, Jean-Francois Theodore.

Everyone now recognizes that Nasdaq’s near-15 percent shareholding in London would make it difficult for another outfit to take over the exchange and sets a “floor” of 1175p for a future bid.

However, a NYSE/Euronext conglomerate would be in a position to take on a combined LSE/Nasdaq operation. Clara Furse’s options have been limited by the surprise Nasdaq move two weeks ago.

The final solution, though, may well be close to that suggested last week by New York shareholder, Caldwell Assets Management. Thomas Caldwell called for an alliance between exchanges rather than mergers and acquisitions. The regulatory differences between the UK and the onerous Sarbox rules in the States would create a nightmare scenario which might considerably lessen the asset value of the LSE.

The situation is moving on, but maybe not as fast as some commentators think.