The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) said today it is in talks with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on an operational tie-up.
The TSE also said it wants to seek various other possibilities in talks with its US counterpart.
The news comes in light of increasing tie-ups between bourses. The TSE has said a merger with Seoul's Korea Exchange was also an option, as the NYSE currently has a merger pending with Paris-based Euronext.
Japanese financial daily Nihon Keizaireported today that the NYSE has proposed a capital and operational tie-up with the TSE, which would likely benefit from the tie-up in internationalising the Tokyo market.
Under the NYSE plan, the two exchanges will take about 10 per cent stakes in each other by 2009, the paper said. The proposal calls for the exchanges to establish a market for Asian start-ups, with the TSE overseeing their Asian strategy, in addition to cross-listing, it said.
Earlier this month, Chief executive John Thain of the NYSE Group said in New York the US bourse was discussing a "range of topics" with the TSE.
Mr Thain declined to be specific but said the NYSE "already has a good relationship" with the Japanese exchange, adding that the TSE remains the leading Asian and second-largest exchange in the world.
In another recent move, Nasdaq Stock Market, the largest US exchange, and Jasdaq, Japan's biggest market for initial public offerings, signed a co-operation agreement