TOKYO (AP) -- The Nasdaq Stock Market made its first overseas debut Monday with the launch of a Japanese version at a time of unusual volatility in the high-tech issues that Nasdaq promotes.

  A software developer, a video game wholesaler and a drugstore chain were among the eight companies to list their shares on Nasdaq Japan.

  Hopes were high that the market, which offers less stringent listing requirements than established exchanges, could persuade normally risk-averse Japanese to invest in high-tech ventures and other startups.

  That challenge has been made more difficult by the recent ups and downs of dot-coms on Wall Street, which have investors reshuffling their portfolios to include more low-priced, low-tech issues.

  "It's not a very good investment climate," said Shoji Hirakawa, strategist at Kokusai Securities Co., adding that investors are now "focused on the risks" of technology stocks.

  The performance of the Nasdaq Japan stocks was mixed Monday. Of the eight, four rose, three fell and one finished unchanged.

  A global pullback by technology issues dealt a blow to another Japanese stock market for venture businesses that started trading amid similar fanfare last December.

  Seven of the ten companies listed on that market -- called Mothers -- are now trading below their initial asking price.

  Masayoshi Son, the billionaire president of Softbank Corp., a partner in Nasdaq Japan, downplayed fears that investors may shun the new market.

  "There'll be ups and downs in the short-term, but if you look at a five- or 10-year span, this is just the beginning," Son said on national broadcaster TV Asahi.

  Nasdaq Japan plans to list more than 100 companies over the next year, with an average of about 10 companies added each month, market spokesman Koji Aoki said.

  Many of those are likely to be affiliated with Softbank, which holds a 50-per-cent stake in the market's operator, Nasdaq Japan Planning Co.

  Nasdaq and Softbank agreed to form Nasdaq Japan last June. In November, Nasdaq announced plans for a Nasdaq Europe, which is scheduled to start trading in the fourth quarter of this year.

  The technology-focused U.S. stock market is also expanding into Canada, with a Nasdaq Canada operation to open in Montreal later this year.

  Softbank has become one of the world's most prolific investors in the Internet, taking stakes in more than 200 dot-com companies including the popular portal Yahoo! Inc.

  Nasdaq Japan began operations as part of the Osaka Stock Exchange, the largest Japanese market outside Tokyo. It plans to introduce its own trading system next year linked to and modeled after the original Nasdaq market.