E*Trade goes global

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- E*Trade Financial launched a pilot platform on Tuesday that allows U.S. investors to trade foreign stocks and currencies online.

The platform allows U.S. customers online access to buy, sell and trade foreign stocks in their local currency in six major international markets: Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and the United Kingdom.

E*Trade customers will also have broker-assisted access to another 36 global markets, giving them access to a total of 42 international exchanges, the company said.

E*Trade said it expects to eventually extend online trading access to all 42 of these markets.

"Retail investors see international investments as a key component of overall portfolio diversification and want the added benefit of direct share ownership," E*Trade President R. Jarrett Lilien said in a statement.

E*Trade said a recent survey found that some 67 percent of the brokerage's customers are interested in trading shares directly on foreign exchanges.

E*Trade (Charts), which competes with Charles Schwab (Charts) and TD Ameritrade (Charts), said it plans to roll out the platform to its customers in the second quarter.

Get your portfolio in balance