New stock market listings in Japan are on track to fall 30% from a year earlier in the first half of 2022 as a confluence of global factors makes international investment scarce.

As of Thursday, 37 companies were expected to have initial public offerings between January and the end of June, down from 53 in the same period last year. Not since the 63% drop in the first half of 2009 have IPOs fallen so sharply.

U.S. interest rate hikes and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine have squeezed flows of foreign investment into Japan, taking some of the life out of what was an active IPO market last year.

"The supply of funding from overseas institutional investors has decreased, making it difficult to pull off large-scale listings," a market source said.

The information and communications sector was among the hardest hit. IPOs in this category shrank to 27% of total new listings, compared with 40% in 2021. Staffing and other service companies made up the biggest share of new listings in the first half, at 38%. ...continue reading