The Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges integrated the trading of shares at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) on Tuesday, making it the world's third-largest exchange by number of listed companies.

The number of listed companies on the TSE increased from 2,323 to 3,423, as 1,100 stocks previously traded only on the OSE were transferred to the TSE.

The Tokyo bourse was then boosted from seventh to third place in the world in terms of listings, after India's BSE and Canada's TMX Group, according to Kyodo News Agency.

The TSE has a trading value of 3.04 trillion US dollars in the first five months of 2013, which makes it ranking the third globally after NYSE Euronext and NASDAQ OMX.

The merger will lower the costs for companies that used to be listed on both stock exchanges while companies transferred from the OSE to the TSE will have more prospects of becoming a component of investment trusts, Kyodo quoted market analysts as saying.