The Tokyo Stock Exchange is looking to come up with new rules by the end of the year urging Japanese companies to respond to rumors and speculation in a concrete manner to address complaints from overseas investors.

The exchange has been told by investors, especially from outside the country, that company statements filed to the bourse in response to local media reports aren't clear, Taisuke Maruo, a senior manager at the TSE's listing department, said in an interview in Tokyo. The exchange is studying how responses can benefit investors, he said.

The move is part of a push by the exchange, which last week became the world's third-biggest bourse by listed companies, to boost investor confidence in the face of challenges from rivals in faster-growing Asian economies. Investors outside Japan account for almost 70 percent of trading by value on the Tokyo bourse.

"This cleaning up, or attempt to improve governance, is really the core part of Abenomics," Jesper Koll, head of Japan strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo, said in an interview, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to kickstart Japan's growth and modernize the economy.

"What you are looking for in terms of Japan is that it does away with its old insider, cliquey-group thing and begins to operate in a free and fair way -- so it actually becomes a democracy."