July 20 (Reuters) - London Stock Exchange Group ( LDNXF )

is weighing whether to launch 24-hour trading and is looking

into the practicalities of increasing its trading hours, the

Financial Times reported on Sunday citing people familiar with

the situation.

LSEG is "absolutely looking at it, whether it means 24-hour

trading or extended trading", one of the people told the

newspaper, adding that the exchange group was "having important

commercial, policy and regulatory discussions" about the

"ongoing topic".

The exploration is part of wide-ranging discussions into

potential new products and services, another person told the FT.

The group is considering aspects of extended trading

hours, including technology upgrades, regulatory questions,

possible effects on companies with dual listings and the

potential impact on liquidity, currently concentrated at the

open and closing auction of the trading day, the report added.

LSEG had no comment.

In March, Nasdaq announced plans to introduce

24-hour trading on its flagship U.S. exchange and joined rival

exchanges like Cboe Global Markets ( CBOE ) and Intercontinental

Exchange ( ICE ), the operator of the New York Stock Exchange,

in planning extended trading hours.

LSEG, which runs the London Stock Exchange ( LDNXF ) and provides

data and analytics to banks and other institutions,

reported

stronger than expected first-quarter income in May, driven

by robust growth in its markets division, and a strong

performance across its other businesses.

London

has struggled to attract new listings, prompting reforms

last year to make it more competitive with New York and the

European Union after Brexit and some have moved their primary

listing to New York or picked Europe for IPOs.

Shein is

working

toward a

listing

in Hong Kong after its proposed London IPO stalled while

Unilever ( UL ) chose Amsterdam as the primary listing for its ice

cream business Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) in February.