A securities firm in Tokyo displays the day's market data on its exterior wall. [Getty Images]
A securities firm in Tokyo displays the day's market data on its exterior wall. [Getty Images]

The Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to double its order-processing capacity to keep pace with a surge in trading volume driven by a booming stock market.

The Nikkei newspaper reported Wednesday that the exchange will nearly double the capacity of Arrowhead, its order-processing system.

Arrowhead currently handles about 830 million orders per day. The exchange aims to raise that figure to about 1.5 billion orders by November.

The upgrade is a direct response to a flood of incoming orders. According to the Nikkei, the daily order count at the Tokyo Stock Exchange reached about 230 million this month — 1.9 times the level a year earlier.

Japan's stock market has been riding an unprecedented rally as a frenzy of AI investment drives capital into memory chip makers and semiconductor materials, components and equipment companies. The Nikkei 225 — Japan's benchmark index — rose for eight consecutive trading sessions through June 22, with its closing price surpassing the 72,000 mark for the first time in history. After pulling back briefly to the 68,000 range on Tuesday, the index surged sharply Wednesday, at one point climbing as much as 2,600 points during the morning session to recover the 71,000 level.

Broader macroeconomic data also point to intensifying enthusiasm for equity investment. According to preliminary flow-of-funds statistics released Wednesday by the Bank of Japan, household financial assets reached 2,386 trillion yen (about 22,800 trillion won) as of the end of March, up 7.1 percent from a year earlier.

Breaking down household financial assets by type, equities and related instruments jumped 28.6 percent from a year earlier to 398 trillion yen (about 3,800 trillion won), while cash and deposits grew just 0.6 percent to 1,126 trillion yen (about 10,700 trillion won).

With foreign investor demand for Japanese equities also running strong, the rally is expected to continue for some time.


kate01@heraldcorp.com