Individual Shareholders Hit Record High in Japan in FY 2023

Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--Individual shareholders of companies listed on Japan’s four stock exchanges increased 4.62 million from the previous year to a record 74.45 million in fiscal 2023, a Tokyo Stock Exchange survey showed Tuesday.

The increase in the year that ended in March reflected stock price rises and a decrease in investment units due to stock splits by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and others, which made it easier for individuals to buy shares.

The number of individual shareholders marked a 10th straight year of increase.

Some 2.47 million individuals newly became shareholders of companies that carried out stock splits, including 1.06 million at NTT, which implemented a 25-for-1 split, and about 110,000 each at Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land Co. and trading house Mitsubishi Corp.

The new Nippon Individual Savings Account, or NISA, tax exemption program for small-lot investors that started in January also drove the increase in individual investors.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]