Nasdaq is boosting its presence in Asia with a joint venture to open a Japanese version of the dealers association. Officers of the US-based grouping also suggested a similar set-up for Hong Kong in talks with stock exchange executives yesterday.
Nasdaq-Japan is a 50-50 joint venture between the American system and Japanese software company Softbank and is expected to be operational in the final quarter of next year.
The new market will allow Japanese investors to put money into companies listed on Nasdaq in the US and into Japanese companies that choose to list on Nasdaq-Japan, with 24-hour trading. It will also be possible to trade on the Internet.
Nasdaq-Amex International president John Wall said: 'We will use the Internet as the conduit to provide the Japanese investor with the ability . . . to access investments in not only US high-technology high-growth stocks but also high-growth hi-tech companies in Japan.' American investors will only be able to invest in Japanese companies that choose to list on the US Nasdaq as well as Nasdaq-Japan.
Mr Wall said a joint venture similar to Nasdaq-Japan was possible in Hong Kong if the stock exchange felt it would benefit the SAR.
The possibility of the Growth Enterprise Market, to be launched later this year, being developed with Nasdaq in a similar way to the Japanese joint venture was also discussed briefly when Mr Wall met stock exchange executives.
An exchange spokesman said: 'GEM could turn into a Nasdaq Hong Kong, but we haven't discussed the details - we just had this idea discussed [yesterday] morning.
