Nomura Holdings Inc., the nation¡¯s largest brokerage, plans to shut down its European equity operations as it cuts costs after years of failing to become profitable overseas, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The Tokyo-based securities firm will shutter equity research, sales, trading and underwriting for European stocks, according to the source, who did not say how many jobs will be lost. An announcement of the move, along with job reductions in the Americas, may come as early as today, said the person, who asked not to be identified due to the private nature of the information.

Nomura, which had 3,433 employees in Europe and 2,501 in the Americas as of Dec. 31, has been considering overhauling its overseas businesses since Chief Executive Officer Koji Nagai in February postponed a goal to earn ?50 billion of pretax profit abroad. Nomura may dismiss about 20 percent of its workforce in North America, people with knowledge of the situation said last month.

Kenji Yamashita, Nomura¡¯s Tokyo-based spokesman, declined to comment on the reorganization in Europe.

Shares of Nomura extended gains, climbing as much as 7.4 percent in Tokyo trading, the most in almost two months. The stock was up 6 percent at the midday break, paring this year¡¯s decline to 30 percent.

Global investment banks including Credit Suisse Group AG are cutting jobs as market volatility and low interest rates curb trading. Wall Street firms are poised to post lower revenue from trading and deal-making for the first quarter of 2016.

Nomura reported a ?50.6 billion pretax loss at its European operations for the nine months to Dec. 31. The brokerage last posted an annual profit outside of Japan in the year ended March 2010.

The firm has gone through a series of expansions and contractions outside of Japan over the years. It bought bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.¡¯s European and Asian operations in 2008, only to pare back operations in the regions later, after costs and losses swelled.