Japanese brokerages focusing on Asian

Japanese brokerages focusing on Asian

TOKYO (Kyodo): Major Japanese brokerages are looking to step
into promising Asian stock markets by inviting securities
regulators there and holding seminars on stock investment in such
countries, officials of the brokerages said yesterday.

Nikko Securities Co. invited 19 finance officials from Vietnam
for three weeks from late June to brief them on how the stock
exchange operates and works as preparations continue toward
opening a stock exchange both in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this
year.

Daiwa Securities Co. also invited officials from Vietnam's
Finance Ministry last April for the same purpose. Besides Nikko
and Daiwa, Nomura Securities Co. held a seminar on the Chinese
stock market by inviting officials at the Shanghai Securities
Exchange.

Further, six brokerages, including the ''Big Four'' houses,
jointly held a seminar in July on how to invest in Indonesian
stocks by inviting Indonesian officials.

Brokerage officials said they will send staff to Asian
countries to help them develop their stock markets if requested.

Kazuyoshi Aoki, deputy chief of Nikko's training department,
pointed to a need to support Asian countries in promoting their
stock markets so as not to miss future business chances.