Tokyo’s Promise of Generational Stock Revamp Draws Skeptics

  • Reform of Japan markets could become missed opportunity: CLSA
  • Reforms to be “watered-down,” Topix to stay “99% the same”

Pedestrians cross a road in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
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Japan’s Topix stock benchmark climbed to a three-decade high on Monday, drawing even more attention to its future amid plans for a sweeping market reform.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is set to undergo a once-in-a-generation shakeup in little over a year. Japan Exchange Group Inc., which owns the bourse, plans to cut the number of market segments, apply new listing criteria and turn five confusing, overlapping divisions into three simpler sections: blue-chips, start-ups, and the rest.