Japan Individual Shareholders Hit Record High in FY 2025

Tokyo, July 3 (Jiji Press)–The total number of individual shareholders of companies listed on Japan’s four stock exchanges in fiscal 2025 rose 10.0 pct from the previous year to a record 91.98 million, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has said. In the year that ended in March, individuals owning shares in the 3,975 companies increased for the 12th straight year, due in part to an increase in the number of firms that conducted stock splits, according to the TSE data released Thursday. The four exchanges are the TSE, the Sapporo Securities Exchange, the Nagoya Stock Exchange and the Fukuoka Stock Exchange. Stock splits, including five-for-one splits by Nippon Steel Corp. and trader Itochu Corp., boosted the number of individual shareholders by 2.63 million, by making stocks more affordable. In the meantime, sharp rises in share prices increased the value of shares held by all holders by 28.0 pct to a record 1,213 trillion yen. As of the end of fiscal 2025, the TSE’s TOPIX stock index was some 31 pct higher than a year before. The value of shares held by individual investors grew 28.3 pct to 210 trillion yen. Investment trust funds held by individuals rose 35.4 pct to 137 trillion yen, partly because of the growing popularity of the new Nippon Individual Savings Account, or NISA, tax-exempt, small-lot investment program. The value of shares held by foreign investors increased 37.1 pct to a record 420 trillion yen. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]