Without naming the five companies, Ugeux, who heads the international listing division on NYSE, said all of them had complied with the tough accounting standards set by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

``These companies, both from the public and private sector, are technically ready as per the US accounting standards,'' he said, adding that another 30 to 40 companies have expressed their desire to get listed on NYSE. These companies are from a wide array of businesses including infotech, telecom and pharmaceuticals, Ugeux said.

According to Ugeux, there is considerable interest among US investors for emerging market stocksspecially from the Asian region. ``About 32 per cent of the stocks held by Americans are those of non-US companies. A major portion of these are from emerging markets,'' he said. Stating that 1998 was a bad year for initial public offerings (IPO) on US stock markets, Ugeux said only two companies from Asia offered their shares to the US investors last year. ``Things are improving, on the last day of 1998 itself, the Dow Jones rose by 230 points,'' he said, adding, ``1999 would see things turnaround.'' Trading in Asian shares, however, has been on a rise on NYSE. The amount of shares held by US investors in companies from Asia has increased by 25 per cent during the last year alone, Ugeux said.