With shares in the London Stock Exchange hitting the dizzy heights of £13.92 ($27.56) — Nasdaq’s offer was £12.43 — the exchange is now on the reserve list for the Footsie 100.

If it’s promoted to that elite squadron, its stock would be picked up by all the tracker funds leading to further gains in value. It’s an enviable prospect and would probably ensure the hard-pressed exchange some respite from the constant challenges it has faced in recent years.

As if to emphasise the point, the LSE has just upgraded its technology platform. The new system allows trades to be executed in full in just 10 milliseconds and allows companies a much easier experience for trading in shares and other instruments.

Called TradElect, the new system is one in the eye for bankers’ darling, Project Turquoise, which is yet to be launched.

Here’s how the LSE describes TradElect :

TradElect, the Exchange’s brand new trading system is up and running. TradElect brings unprecedented levels of performance, enhanced functionality and new services to our markets whilst maintaining our exemplary record for reliability.

It allows our customers to trade on one of the fastest, most reliable and technologically advanced equity markets in the world.

Its introduction marks the final and most significant phase of the Exchange’s four-year system upgrade project – known as Technology Roadmap (TRM) – and now delivers a range of key functional and technical enhancements including;

* Increase the speed and efficiency of trading
* Provide the framework for the rapid development of new markets and asset classes
* Enhance the market structure to better support order routing, settlement and clearing
* Extend functionality for order handling, quote management and trade reporting.

These are surely the good times for the LSE and its doughty chief executive, Clara Furse, and chairman, Chris Gibson-Smith.

The big banks rival to the London Stock Exchange, Project Turquoise, steps up a gear with the appointment of EuroCPP as its clearing and settlement system.

The new European share trading platform is the baby of seven investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Project Turquoise is set to begin trading in all European shares by the end of this year, lowering business prospects for the LSE.

The group has yet to appoint a chief executive, however.

The penny seems to have dropped for Robert Greifeld and his Nasdaq team that Clara Furse’s gritty defence of London Stock Exchange independence is winning hands down.

On Friday they seemed to have thrown in the towel when it was announced that the Nasdaq offer of £12.43 per share would not be increased, although the deadline for acceptances would be extended until February 10.

Neither the UK Government nor the Office of Fair Trading have offered any comfort for Furse in this steely tussle. She was left to make the business case without the kind of protectionism enjoyed by Nasdaq, which is virtually bid-proof.

For the fifth time in recent years she appears to have made that case supremely well. LSE shareholders, like the hedge funds, owe her nothing, yet have stood firm — so far. Victory is tantalizingly in sight.

When Nasdaq chief Greifeld flew back from the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland on Friday, he overflew London and went straight back to New York. The symbolism of that move is clear. Clara is not for turning, and Robert knows it.

There are still dangers galore for a newly-refreshed LSE post-February 10. Greifeld could make good his threat to dump his entire near 30pc stake in the LSE onto the market, possibly causing a precipitate decline. That would not be good business, however, and could lose money if the hedge funds cut and ran.

In the longer term newer exchanges permitted under EU laws, such as Project Turquoise might upset the delicate balance of pricing and attraction for new IPOs.

Those are problems for the future, however, and will not prevent victory tasting very sweet.

The London Stock Exchange is preparing to present its defence against Nasdaq’s £2.9 billion bid this week.

Its main claim to independence will be a reiteration of the exchange’s buoyant earnings boom, arguing that a price of £12.43 seriously undervalues its potential.

There are suggestions that the LSE may also resume cash returns to shareholders, while continuing its efforts to find a white knight protector.