Online broker DLJdirect SFG Securities Inc. has announced that it will begin a stock trading service in April to accept orders by voice over the Internet, in cooperation with IBM Japan Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. Tokyo-based DLJdirect said Thursday it hopes to attract keyboard-shy potential online investors, particularly those in their 50s and 60s, to give it an edge in the increasingly competitive market that has been growing since October, when the government deregulated stock brokerage commissions. DLJdirect SFG says most of its present clients are in their 30s and 40s. The service will basically be available for users of IBM and Hitachi personal computers, who will be able to place buy and sell orders and execute them by voice commands in Japanese after logging in, the company said. Log-in passwords and personal identification numbers for order executions, however, have to be input through the keyboard, the company said. Handwritten orders may also be placed on certain Hitachi computers, it said. DLJdirect SFG is owned by DLJdirect Inc., a U.S. online brokerage, as well as Japanese firms, including Sumitomo Bank and Daiwa Securities Co. It started operating on June 11.
