Chancellor Gordon Brown and Economic Secretary Ed Balls have signalled concern over an expected bid for the London Stock Exchange by Nasdaq sometime after next Monday’s deadline, but likely to be later in the year.

The word is that a £2.7 billion bid would be referred to the Competition Commission and that may take a long while to report. The worry is that a Nasdaq-dominated LSE would lose many of the overseas listings currently flocking to London.

The LSE said : “We have a very strong business which is going from strength to strength. there are a number of strategic options we would consider.”