The number of individual shareholders in listed companies across the four Japanese stock markets climbed to a record high in fiscal 2023, surpassing 70 million for the first time amid an uptrend in share prices, according to the four bourses.
The figure came to about 74.45 million, up 4.62 million from the previous fiscal year for the 10th consecutive year of increase, according to data compiled by the stock exchanges in Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo.
Share prices have advanced sharply recently, with the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average hitting a record high in February for the first time since 1989, during Japan's asset-inflated bubble economy.
The tally is calculated by simply adding up the number of shareholders of each company. For example, an investor holding shares of 10 companies is counted as 10 different shareholders, the bourses said.
The value of shares held by individual shareholders was 170.49 trillion yen ($1.08 trillion) as of the end of the fiscal year in March, up 39.23 trillion from a year ago.
The sharp increase is also attributable to the revamp in January of Japan's Nippon Individual Savings Account tax-free investment program, as the government encourages a shift from savings to investments in the equities market.
The largest proportion of shares on a value basis was held by foreign institutional investors and individuals at 31.8 percent, rising 1.7 percentage points from the previous fiscal year to hit a record high.
Trust banks accounted for 22.1 percent, the seventh consecutive year to surpass 20 percent, while individual shareholders held 16.9 percent.
The data covered the distribution of shares in fiscal 2023 among 3,984 companies listed on the four stock exchanges.
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