The Japan Securities Dealers Association, a securities industry group, announced Thursday it is in talks to sell its 73 percent stake in Jasdaq Securities Exchange Inc., the nation's biggest market for startups, to Osaka Securities Exchange Co.

"We agreed today to push ahead in discussions with Osaka Securities to sell our stake in Jasdaq," JSDA Chairman Toshio Ando said Thursday in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. "We will do our best to overcome difficulties to create an attractive startup market."

An agreement between the two would help Jasdaq resist the might of Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc., which handles 90 percent of trading in Japan and struck alliances with the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange this year.