Hiromi Yamaji, president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, said on Monday that he saw the extension as a "real" opportunity as the exchange deepened discussions about the pros and cons of extending the stock trading day.

Yamaji said in an interview that extending the trading hours seemed more feasible than when the issue was discussed in 2014, when a proposal for evening trading was rejected because of opposition from brokerages.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange tried to extend the trading hours of the spot stock market in 2000, 2010 and 2014, but failed. In 2014, the exchange's proposal was to consider evening trading, but it failed.

"I think extending the trading hours looks more realistic than the last time we discussed it," Yamaji said in an interview. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has set up a working group to discuss whether trading hours can be extended beyond 3pm now. If implemented, it would be the first time the TSE has extended trading hours in more than a decade.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange has one of the shortest trading hours among the world's major exchanges, with a total of only five hours. Yamaji said that members of the working group had put forward various opinions, and he did not know how much longer it would take.