The New York and Tokyo stock exchanges (NYSE and TSE) are to agree to intensify cooperation, the head of the pan-European stock market Euronext, itself moving closer to the NYSE, said.

"NYSE-Euronext will cover two of the three great time zones in the world," Jean Francois Theodore, director general of Euronext, said in a dialogue on the Internet.

"It is clear that the new company's job is to develop different partnerships with the stock exchanges of an Asian zone, which is in full development," he said.

"The NYSE will bring to the marriage the 5 percent it has just taken in the National Stock Exchange of India, the main Indian exchange" and "an agreement of greatly strengthened cooperation will be reached with Tokyo."

In the "longer term" there could best partnerships with China, he suggested.

On Friday AFP reported that that the heads of the NYSE and TSE could make an announcement as early as Tuesday or Wednesday on a possible link-up.

Officials were considering joint development of financial products and mutual listing of index-linked investment trust funds, among other cooperations, the Kyodo News agency was reported as saying.

Taizo Nishimuro, president of the Tokyo exchange, was expected to meet NYSE Group Inc. chief executive officer John Thain when he visited the city this week this month, Kyodo said, citing sources familiar with the issue.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange may simplify screening procedures for NYSE-listed companies seeking to debut on the Tokyo bourse, Kyodo said.

The basic accord is unlikely to cover cross-shareholdings between the two bourses, Kyodo added.

The accord is expected to call for continuation of talks with an eye on a possible capital tie-up, it said.

The Tokyo exchange, second only to New York as a financial centre, said in October it was in talks with the NYSE.

Last week the US and European stock market regulators inked an accord agreeing to join forces amidst the pending tie-up of the New York Stock Exchange with European stock market operator Euronext.

The NYSE and Euronext, which runs five European stock markets, are on the verge of merging to become the world's first intercontinental bourse.