December 22, 2001	Saturday	Shawwal 6, 1422

SINGAPORE, Dec 21: Singapore and Tokyo have opened discussions on mutual trading of equities and derivatives, a report said on Friday.

Singapore this week launched a co-trading link with Australia, and Japan was seen as a next step with long term plans to have similar arrangements in Europe, the Business Times said.

The co-trading deal with Australia allows investors in either market to directly trade stocks in the other.

On Thursday, the first day of live trading, Singapore investors bought 399,000 Australian shares worth 693,145 Singapore dollars (US$380,000), while Australians bought 22,000 Singapore shares worth 37,000 dollars.

Brokers said they expect investors would take time to warm to trading in foreign shares.

“An average Singapore investor would be hard pressed to name even five Australian companies,” Goh Teik Cheng, head of research at Millennium Securities, said.—AFP