London Stock Exchange to launch round-the-clock trading next year

July 21 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange on Tuesday announced plans to launch LSE 24, a night-time trading site, in the first half of 2027.

LSE's new exchange will operate separately from its main market and will initially offer access to exchange-traded products such as funds tracking the UK or U.S. stock market.

LSE 24 will give "global investors greater flexibility to respond to market events, access liquidity across time zones and manage risk", the company said in a statement.

The new exchange will operate from 5 p.m. to 7:50 a.m. London time, with a 30-minute pause between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to apply end-of-day processes. The main market will continue to operate under its standard hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Financial Times first reported the details on Monday.

Exchanges have been grappling with the growth of cryptocurrencies and other assets that are not restricted by traditional opening hours, which has raised expectations, particularly among retail traders, of being able to trade at any time.

Nasdaq plans to extend trading to 23 hours on weekdays in December and CME rolled out 24x7 trading of crypto futures and options in late May. Cboe, meanwhile, plans to launch 23x5 trading of U.S. equities on its EDGX Equities Exchange in December.

Reuters provides news for LSEG's news and data terminal, Workspace, and other products.

(Reporting by Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City and Shashwat Awasthi in BengaluruEditing by Shailesh Kuber, Sonali Paul and David Goodman)