Yahoo Japan Corp., the nation's leading Internet portal site operator, drew a tepid response from investors when it debuted Tuesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, ending the day at 1.57 million yen after opening at 1.65 million yen.
The first section prices were lower than the last quote of 1.68 million yen Monday on the Jasdaq over-the-counter market, where Yahoo Japan had been listed.
With a total market value of 3.17 trillion yen prior to its listing, Yahoo Japan is the largest firm in terms of market capitalization to be listed on the TSE this year. It surpassed Seiko Epson Corp., which went public in June with a market capitalization of 708 billion yen.
The listing comes after the operator of the nation's leading Internet portal submitted its application to the TSE in July. The bourse gave its approval last week.
Yahoo Japan, which belongs to a business group led by Internet investor Softbank Corp. and is partly owned by Yahoo Inc. of the United States, did not float new shares on its first section debut. Yahoo Japan went public on the Jasdaq market in November 1997.