Deutsche Boerse is in advanced merger talks with NYSE Euronext , two people familiar with the matter said, the day's second big piece of bourse merger news.

They are speaking about a merger, one of the people, a senior financial source familiar with Deutsche Boerse, said on Wednesday.

Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext both declined to comment.

Trading in Deutsche Boerse shares was halted on Wednesday after speculation of a potential merger deal between the two was pending.

Speculation was fueled by the announcement that London Stock Exchange is to buy Canada's TMX to claw back lost market share and create the world's fourth-largest bourse trading $4.1 trillion of stock a year. Deutsche Boerse shares were up 1.7 percent at 58.42 euros just before trading was halted, while NYSE Euronext shares were up 5.1 percent in New York.

NYSE Euronext has market value of about $9 billion, smaller than Deutsche Boerse's 11 billion euros ($15 billion).

(Reporting by Edward Taylor, Philipp Halstrick, Arno Schuetze, Harro ten Wolde and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Will Waterman)

($1=.7327 Euro)

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