Nasdaq Japan Pushes Up Starting Date

Nasdaq Japan, the Japanese version of the dealer-run Nasdaq Stock Market in the U.S., will begin trading by mid-2000, six months earlier than planned, the U.S. National Assn. of Securities Dealers and Japan’s Softbank Corp. said. The NASD-Softbank alliance signed an agreement with the Osaka Securities Exchange under which Japan’s second-largest stock exchange will provide surveillance, trade settlement and company-listing services for Nasdaq Japan. Osaka’s backing will allow trading of newly public Japanese companies and Nasdaq-listed U.S. companies with Japanese units to start in June or July, NASD Chairman Frank Zarb said. The speedup also was in response to the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s opening Wednesday of a market for Internet start-up companies, the “Mothers” market, Zarb said. Nasdaq would be the first American market to open in Japan. About a dozen U.S. companies with Japanese units have expressed interest in being listed on Nasdaq Japan, though Nasdaq plans to approach many more, Zarb said.