American Stock Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is the primary stock exchange in Australia. The ASX began as separate state-based exchanges established as early as 1861. Today trading is all-electronic and the exchange is a public company, listed on the exchange itself.
The Australian Securities Exchange as it is now known resulted from the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in December 2006.
The biggest stocks traded on the ASX, in terms of their market capitalisation, include BHP Billiton,Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Telstra Corporation, Rio Tinto, National Australia Bank and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. As at 31-Dec-2006 the three largest sectors by market cap were financial services (34%), commodities (20%) and listed property trusts (10%).
The major market index is the S&P/ASX 200, an index made up of the top 200 shares in the ASX. This supplanted the previously significant All Ordinaries index, which still runs parallel to the S&P ASX 200. Both are commonly quoted together. Other indices for the bigger stocks are the S&P/ASX 100 and S&P/ASX 50.
The ASX is a public company, and its own shares are traded on the ASX. However, the corporation's charter restricts maximum individual holdings to a small fraction of the company.
While the ASX regulates other listed companies listed on the ASX, it cannot regulate itself, and is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The current managing director Robert Elstone was appointed in July 2006. Prior to the merger of ASX with the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE), Robert Elstone was the CEO of the SFE.
Market Details
ASX has a pre-market session from 07:00am to 10:00am AEST and a normal trading session from 10:00am to 04:00pm AEST.
The market opens alphabetically in single price auctions, phased over the first ten minutes, with a small random time built in to prevent exact prediction of the first trades. There is also a single-price auction between 4:10pm and 4:12pm to set the daily closing prices.[2] As of 30 March 2007, 2014 stocks were listed on the ASX with a total market capitalisation of A$1.39 trillion (US$1.098 trillion). At the end of 2004 it was the 8th largest world equity market (on free float basis), comprising around 2.2% of the MSCI World index. Market turnover during 2004 was $A779bn.[citation needed]
Brokers that dominate market share in Australia (in decreasing order) include Macquarie Bank, Goldman Sachs JBWere, UBS, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch,CSFB, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO, CommSec and Morgan Stanley. Retail investors account for around 20% of market turnover. Market ownership is broken down as 30% institutional, 40% foreign, 30% retail.
History
The exchange began as six separate exchanges established in the state capitalsMelbourne (1861), Sydney (1871), Hobart (1882), Brisbane (1884), Adelaide (1887) and Perth (1889).[3] An exchange in Launceston merged into the Hobart exchange too.
The first interstate conference was held in 1903 at Melbourne Cup time. The exchanges then met on an informal basis until 1937 when the Australian Associated Stock Exchanges (AASE) was established, with representatives from each exchange. Over time the AASE established uniform listing rules, broker rules, and commission rates.
Trading was conducted by a call system, where an exchange employee called the names of each company and brokers bid or offered on each. In the 1960s this changed to a post system. Exchange employees called "chalkies" wrote bids and offers in chalk on blackboards continuously, and recorded transactions made.
Bermuda Stock Exchange
The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), established in 1971, is now the world’s leading fully electronic offshore securities market, with a current market capitalization (excluding mutual funds) in excess of US$300[citation needed] billion. Approximately 400 securities are listed on the BSX, of which almost 300 are offshore funds and alternative investment structures. As of 31 December 2007, the BSX had 53 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $2.4 billion.[1]
The exchange specializes in listing and trading of capital market instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual fund (includinghedge fund structures) and depository receipt programs.
The BSX has been granted approved stock exchange status under Australia’s Foreign Investment Fund taxation rules and effective September 1, 2005 was granted designated investment exchange status by the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority.
Mexican Stock Exchange
Bolsa de Valores de Colombia
The Bolsa de Valores de Colombia, also known as BVC, is the principal stock exchange of Colombia. It was created on July 3, 2001 by the union of three extant stock exchanges in Colombia: Bolsa de Bogotá, Bolsa de Medellín and the Bolsa de Occidente in Cali.
Bombay Stock Exchange
The Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (Marathi/Hindi: मुंबई शेयर बाज़ार Mumbaī Śeyar Bāzār) (formerly,The Stock Exchange, Mumbai; popularly called The Bombay Stock Exchange, or BSE) has the greatest number of listed companies in the world, with 4700 listed as of August 2007.[1] It is located at Dalal Street,Mumbai, India. On 31 December 2007, the equity market capitalization of the companies listed on the BSE was US$ 1.79 trillion, making it the largest stock exchange in South Asia and the tenth largest in the world.[2]
The Bombay Stock Exchange was established in 1875. Around 6,000 Indian companies list on the stock exchange,[3] and it has a significant trading volume. The BSE SENSEX (SENSitive indEX), also called the "BSE 30", is a widely used market index in India and Asia. Though many other exchanges exist, BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India account for most of the trading in shares in India.
Alliances
Singapore Exchange (SGX) made a strategic investment in Bombay Stock Exchange, acquiring 5% of its shares for US$42.7 million. It is consistent with the strategy of building an Asian Gateway for securities and derivatives. BSE is also considering to take part of the capitalisation of the rising ascension of its partner, Singapore Exchange, which is becoming a leading financial hub in Asia-Pacific.
BSE also claims a strategic partnership with Deutsche Börse.
Budapest Stock Exchange
The Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) was re-opened in 1990[1] with headquarters in Budapest, Hungary.
BSE is the key institution of the Hungarian Financial market and the official trading venue for publicly offered securities.
The exchange has pre-market sessions from 08:30am to 09:00am and normal trading sessions from 09:00am to 04:30pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.
About the Exchange
The Budapest Stock Exchange Ltd. (BSE) aims to ensure a transparent and liquid market for its listed securities issued either in Hungary or abroad. As the key institution of the domestic financial market, the stock exchange provides various economic entities with an opportunity to raise capital in an open market and offers investors effective investment opportunities. Through the concentration of supply and demand, it is the most important institution of price discovery.
The stock exchange actively participates in promoting the continuous improvement of the financial culture of domestic companies and investors.
The four main activities of the stock exchange:
Listing services: The BSE allows economic entities to acquire the financial resources required for their expansion in a cost-effective way. In addition, the BSE provides access to the dynamically growing assets of domestic institutional investors and to domestic investor savings. The exchange also provides investors with the simplest access to the global investor community.
Trading services: The BSE acts as the main platform to trade financial instruments. Currently, over 40 domestic and foreign broker companies take part in the exchange trading.
Dissemination of market information: The Exchange supplies real-time and accurate trading data of its listed securities and provides news services on issuers and section members. Through the exchange’s extensive data vendor network, both institutional and individual investors can access market data in a timely and efficient manner.
Product development: The BSE provides a trading opportunity for financial innovations, and offers a wide and constantly growing product range for investors on the futures and option markets. Index futures and options are calculated directly by the exchange. Investors seeking hedging opportunities or gearing can select from a wide array of individual stocks and currency, interest rate and commodity derivatives.
The Exchange’s main goal is to become the financial centre and primary trading venue of Hungarian securities, and to successfully take part in the competition for issuers. This is achieved by a client-oriented operation, a commitment to continuously improve its services and an application of timely and effective technological improvements and solutions.