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Change Your Life! |
Famous US Nasdaq Stock Market in Japan now |
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News |
June 20, 2000
TOKYO, (AP) - Japan's version of the technology-oriented Nasdaq Stock Market made a high-profile debut Monday, with investors getting the chance to bid on eight companies including an Internet service provider, a video game distributor, and a drugstore chain. Hopes are high that Nasdaq Japan will encourage venture businesses - especially "new economy" startups - in a risk-adverse culture where entrepreneurs often struggle to find financial backers. The Osaka-based market also expands options for Japanese investors, who by next year will be able to trade electronically 24 hours a day and even dabble in stocks listed on the Nasdaq market in the U.S. "We are about to start a very, very important step in the world's financial activities," said Nasdaq Chairman Frank Zarb at a ceremony shortly before the beginning of trading. But living up to the reputation of its U.S. namesake may not be easy for the joint venture between Nasdaq's U.S. parent and the Japanese investment company Softbank Corp. The market is making its debut at a time that investors in Japan are losing their once-insatiable appetite for technology and Internet shares. Put off by the dizzying declines of dot-coms on Wall Street, investors have been reshuffling their portfolios to include more low-priced, low-tech issues. "It's not a very good investment climate," said Shoji Hirakawa, strategist at Kokusai Securities Co. "With those kinds of stocks on a downtrend the market's attention is focused on the risks." The global pullback by technology issues has dealt a blow to another Japanese bourse for venture business that started trading amid fanfare last December. Seven of the ten companies listed on that market - called Mothers - are now trading below their initial asking price. But investors gave a generally warm reception Monday morning to shares on Nasdaq Japan, shrugging off a retreat overnight by U.S. technology issues. Masternet Inc., an Internet provider for mobile phone users, ended the morning session untraded as buy bids overwhelmed sell orders. Drugstore chain operator Sugi Pharmacy Co. rose as much as 28 percent above its initial public offering price. Digicube Co., which supplies video game software to convenience stores, finished the morning unchanged. Nasdaq Japan offers startups less stringent listing requirements than those imposed by established exchanges in this country. It plans to list more than 100 companies over the next year, with an average of about 10 companies each month, said spokesman Koji Aoki. Many of those are likely to be affiliated with Softbank, which holds a 50 percent stake in the market's owners, Nasdaq Japan Planning Co. Led by its billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, Softbank has become one of the world's most prolific investors in online ventures. It has stakes in more than 200 dot-com companies, and its global portfolio includes shares in the popular U.S. Internet portal Yahoo Inc. Some analysts worry that Softbank's close relationship with Nasdaq Japan could mean an identity crisis for the new market. Investors could be alienated if Nasdaq Japan appears to be little more than a fund-raising exercise for the Softbank group - and there are concerns that the Internet investor could use its influence to get its affiliates listed ahead of other companies. "The market's operators really should be neutral," said Kokusai's Hirakawa.
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