Sony, Nikko plan Japanese stock sites.

Sony said it_s investing in an online broker to serve individual investors in Japan.Separately, Nikko Securities said it may create a company to handle its small but growing online trading business.Sony decided at a board meeting today to pay 25 million yen ($211,000) for a 50 percent stake in a new company offering securities trading and related investment services via the Internet, said T.Sonoda, manager at Sony_s capital market and investor relations division.The new company, tentatively named Monex and scheduled to be established next month, will be headed by O.Matsumoto, a former general partner at Goldman, Sachs."Sony will continue to study possibilities for starting an online financial service of its own,separate from the latest investment," Sonoda added. Sony_s popularity as a household name could prove to be a major asset in capturing share in a budding market comprising roughly 45,000 online trading accounts.Nikko, Japan_s third-largest securities company also confirmed plans to form a separate entity for such trading.Nikko_s partner will be a systems company run by T. McCarthy, a former president at Charles Schwab.Compared with the United States, where nearly a third of all stock trading by individuals is conducted via the Internet, online trading is a novelty in Japan. It provides a cheaper alternative to Japan_s individual investors than the traditional face-to-face sales practices in the securities industry."After October, when trading commissions will be liberalized, online trading will comprise an important share of all retail sales," said S.Ohsaki, senior economist at Nomura Research Institute_s Capital Markets Research Group. "I_d agree with estimates that put the total number of online accounts at around 400,000 by the end of this year," he said.Brokerages can cut commissions on trading securities by using the Internet to automate the ordering and execution process. While Japan won_t allow brokerages to offer competitive commissions until October, 22 Japanese securities companies already provide online trading.In contrast to the United States., where the large full-service securities companies have been hesitant to shift trading to the Internet from contracted sales representatives, in Japan the biggest brokerages have led the way online.