Kraft stock to switch to Nasdaq later this month

An exterior view shows the Kraft Research and Development facility in Morton Grove, Illinois January 19, 2010.

(Reuters) - Kraft Foods Inc KFT.N will transfer its stock exchange listing to the Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange, a move it said will save money.

In addition to "greater cost efficiencies," the move will give Kraft brands better visibility through Nasdaq's (NDAQ.O) marketing and advertising initiatives and brand-building, said Kraft spokesman John Simley. He declined to provide any financial details.

Shares of Kraft will begin trading on the Nasdaq on June 26 under its current symbol, KFT.

Kraft, whose products include Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate and Maxwell House coffee, plans to split later this year into two companies. Both will trade on the Nasdaq.

Mondelez International, which will include the snack business, will trade under the symbol MDLZ, while Kraft Foods Group Inc trades under the symbol KRFT. After the spinoff, the symbol KFT will be retired.

Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, a unit of NYSE Euronext (NYX.N), compete ferociously and poach listings from one another.

This spring, U.S. retail brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (AMTD.N) switched from Nasdaq to the Big Board, while Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) went the other direction last year.

Kraft shares were up 8 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $38.23 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

(Reporting By Martinne Geller and Phil Wahba in New York; editing by John Wallace and Jeffrey Benkoe)