The technology-dominated US Nasdaq stock market has begun exploratory meetings with representatives of 10 Middle Eastern stock exchanges.

The discussions could lead to "various opportunities" in the future, Nasdaq said in a statement.

Representatives of the US markets are meetings with officials from exchanges in Cairo & Alexandra, Bahrain, Tel Aviv, Athens, Amman, Kuwait, Istanbul and Dubai.

They will also talk with representatives from the Palestine Securities Exchange, and the Capital Markets Board of Turkey.

"At this stage, our discussions are completely exploratory, with no commitment of specific plans for any shared efforts," Nasdaq said.

"Having said this, our discussions today have been very positive, and we have agreed to evaluate various opportunities and challenges and meet again in the spring of next year."

The meetings come at a time when more and more global markets are seeking alliances as stock trading becomes increasingly international.

Nasdaq, which is the second largest US stock market, has been seeking several international alliances.

The new venture between the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges includes a tie-up with Nasdaq.

The exchange recently said it was seeking to expand an alliance with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, allowing Hong Kong companies to list their shares on the Nasdaq.

And in June, shares of Japanese companies started trading on Nasdaq Japan, which is a joint venture between the US market and Japanese internet company, Softbank.