TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc. said Thursday it will call for listed companies to lower the minimum share purchase amounts, seeking to attract individual investors who want to trade in smaller portions.

In Japan, stocks are typically traded in units of 100 shares, meaning if an equity is priced at 1,000 yen ($7), its minimum trading amount would be 100,000 yen.

The TSE, which has urged companies to set the minimum investment amount at less than 500,000 yen, now plans to encourage them to take steps such as stock splits, after a survey last year revealed many individual investors prefer the minimum to be around 100,000 yen.

The call was included in a report released Thursday by a TSE study group, comprised of members including institutional investors. While the group had considered revising rules to enable single-share transactions, it was not included in the latest report.

As part of efforts to spur trading, the Tokyo bourse also began requiring companies listed on its top-tier Prime Market to provide English-language disclosures from April, aiming to draw more overseas investments.