NASDAQ Inaugurates Early Trading Session : Securities: The 3:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. operation is aimed at accommodating European investors.

NASDAQ International’s much-ballyhooed early morning trading got off to a slow start Monday, in the first attempt by a U.S. stock market to conduct trading during European business hours.

Although only 106,800 shares traded hands, NASDAQ officials hope that the early hours--3:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST--will begin facilitating international trading of over-the-counter stocks.

Traders said volume in the automated system was held down by Securities and Exchange Commission regulations that limited trading to unlisted, over-the-counter securities.

An estimated 10 million shares of New York Stock Exchange-listed securities already trade overseas before U.S. markets open. The trading is done dealer to dealer, but outside the NASDAQ system.

NASDAQ is an acronym for the National Assn. of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. Domestically, NASDAQ provides brokers and dealers with securities traded over-the-counter and provides an alternate mechanism for trading NYSE-listed stocks. Unlike stock exchanges, NASDAQ is a network of brokerages connected electronically.

Despite the slow start, NASDAQ spokesman Robert Ferri called the new hours “the first significant step in the march toward truly global trading.” He added: “This is the first expansion of a U.S. market into another country. . . . This is the first time U.S. and United Kingdom regulators were able to arrive at common ground.”

Four of the 10 brokers who registered to use the new international system participated in the first session Monday. They were Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros., Sherwood Securities and Madoff Securities International.

“It basically opened as expected--with light volume,” said Bernard L. Madoff, chairman of the firm that bears his name. Madoff already conducts overseas trading of listed securities outside the NASDAQ system and “we will continue” to do so, he added.

“This may very well be a year or two ahead of its time, but I think it’s a start,” added E. E. Geduld, president of Herzon Heine Geduld.

Although about 1,400 NASDAQ stocks are available in the pre-dawn session, only 29 trades in nine issues took place on Day 1, with most orders originating in London. U.S. Healthcare was the most actively traded issue during the session, accounting for 69,500 shares. The stock ended the early session at $49.25, down from Friday’s NASDAQ close of $46.625.