A TV studio is set up Monday at Jasdaq Securities Exchange Inc. to report on the market.

Jasdaq, for years a leading over-the-counter market focusing on start-ups, made the transition to full-fledged securities exchange Monday.

Now the nation's sixth, it is the first new exchange since 1949, when the Sapporo Securities Exchange was set up.

Speaking at the opening, Kiyoshi Nagano, chairman and president of Jasdaq Securities Exchange Inc., said, ``We would like to improve market performance and develop in a step-by-step fashion.''

There were 942 companies, including McDonald's Japan and Rakuten Inc., listed on the Jasdaq Securities Exchange as of Monday. Total market capitalization was about 11 trillion yen, equal to 3.4 percent of the main section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

As an over-the-counter market, Jasdaq was limited in various ways. Now, as a regular securities exchange, Jasdaq can accept market orders from investors without specific buying and selling prices and begin large-lot after-hours trading.

Jasdaq Securities Exchange also plans to offer a wide range of services, such as futures and options trading, and allow dual listings on Jasdaq and other exchanges.

The conversion is apparently intended to prevent a flight of listed stocks to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

Seibu Railway Co. plans to list on the Jasdaq Securities Exchange after being dropped from the TSE. Found to have falsified financial statements for years, the company is scheduled to be delisted from the First Section of the TSE on Dec. 17.(IHT/Asahi: December 14,2004)