Brokers have welcomed the prospect of a price war between Euronext and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after the European bourse disclosed plans to offer cheaper cash trading in UK blue chip stocks.

Jean-François Théodore, chief executive of Euronext, claimed last week that trading fees for domestic stocks on its exchanges are nearly 25% cheaper than transactions on the LSE. "Our fee structure for domestic stocks is 23.5% less than in London. I see no reason why we cannot offer such cheaper prices when we start trading FTSE 100 stocks," he said.