P.M. Briefing : Japan to Resume NTT Sales

TOKYO — The Japanese government, after suspending sales of shares in telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph & Telephone because of weak stock prices, said today that it will resume sales.

Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said the government plans to sell about 500,000 shares annually over the next five years. It will keep the rest of the 5.2 million shares in the company that it previously planned to sell, the ministry said in a statement.

The government now owns 10.2 million of NTT’s outstanding 15.6 million shares.

NTT shares closed lower on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, down 30,000 yen ($225) at 1.04 million yen ($7,800) each.

A Finance Ministry official said last month that the ministry wanted to list NTT shares on the New York Stock Exchange. He said it was asking for a revision of the NTT Corporation Act, which bans non-Japanese from owning its shares.