Dealing room of the Nextrade headquarters in Seoul is seen on Mar. 4. (Yonhap)
Dealing room of the Nextrade headquarters in Seoul is seen on Mar. 4. (Yonhap)

The operator of the country's alternative stock exchange said Monday that investors are now able to trade up to 800 firms on its platform, sharply up from 350 last week.

Nextrade was launched March 4, offering extended trading hours and lower fees.

The NXT runs for 12 hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., longer than the trading hours of the main Korea Exchange bourse, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Initially, the trading of only 10 firms was available on the new stock exchange, but the number has steadily increased.

According to data compiled by the NXT, stock turnover swelled to 2.03 trillion won ($1.38 billion) last week, from 135 billion won the previous week. During the first week of the launch, the turnover came in at 15.5 billion won.

Starting this week, large-scale trading and basket trading will be allowed on the NXT, which will help induce institutional investors into the platform as well and, in turn, reduce retail investors' presence on the platform, currently staying at 98 percent. (Yonhap)