International Stock Exchanges

History of Worlds Stock Exchanges

Oldest Stock Exchange in the world is the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (1602) and was later followed by the Paris Stock Exchange (1724) and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (1790) The London Stock Exchange was formed in 1801 although it is argued that it existed informally since 1698 The Milan Stock Exchange was formed in 1808 and the New York Stock Exchange in 1817 Coming to India, the Bombay Stock Exchange started in 1875 and the National Stock Exchange in 1992

Introduction
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) ranks the stock exchanges of the world It is the trade association of 52 publicly regulated stock, futures and options exchanges. It sorts all the exchanges by size so as to identify the largest stock exchanges in terms of various factors like market capitalization, number of listed companies, total volume of shares, etc.

Introduction
The 2010 total market capitalization for the more than 50 WFEmember exchanges, which had increased 45.5% increase in 2009, approached its record high of USD 60.8 trillion last achieved at the end of 2007. The Asia-Pacific regions capitalization gained 19.5% followed by the Americas (+17.1%) and Europe-Africa-Middle east (+7.4%). Share trading value (electronic order book) in 2010 increased by a mere 1.8% to reach a total of USD 63 trillion. APAC and EMEA regions experienced an annual increase of 5% and 4% respectively, while the Americas slightly receded 0.8% as compared to the previous year.

NASDAQ
"National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. Actually called as NASDAQ OMX as managed by the OMX Group of US As of January 13, 2011, there are 2,872 listings NASDAQ has a pre-market session from 7:00am to 9:30am, a normal trading session from 9:30am to 4:00pm and a post-market session from 4:00pm to 8:00pm NASDAQ quotes are available at three levels:Level 1 shows the highest bid and lowest offer (the inside quotes) Level 2 shows all public quotes of market makers together with information of market dealers wishing to sell or buy stock and recently executed orders Level 3 is used by the market makers and allows them to enter their quotes and execute orders

NASDAQ
Developed in 1971 as the first electronic stock exchange in the world, it is even today the largest electronic screen-based equity securities trading market in the United States and second-largest by market capitalization in the world. Created basically to increase trading of OTC stocks those were unable to meet listing requirements for larger exchanges. A record 2500 stocks were traded on the first trading day (ie) 8th February, 1971. In 1990, NASDAQ began to be seen as a competitor to NYSE and in 1994 actually beat it in annual shares traded. In 1998, NASDAQ merged with the American Stock Exchange (which mostly traded derivatives) creating the NASDAQ-AMEX Market Group.

NASDAQ
The combined company still operates as two separate exchanges but is able to compete with NYSE. The NASDAQ Composite (started on 5th February, 1971 with a base level of 100 points) is the benchmark index of NASDAQ which is the stock market index of the common stocks and similar securities listed on the NASDAQ stock market, meaning that it has over 3,000 components. It is highly followed in the U.S. as an indicator of the performance of stocks of technology companies and growth companies. Since both US and non-US companies are listed on the NASDAQ stock market, the index is not exclusively a US index. http://www.nasdaq.com/

NYSE Euronext
The origin of the NYSE can be traced to May 17, 1792, when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed by 24 New York City stock brokers and merchants outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. NYSE Euronext, Inc. (formerly NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V.) is an Euro-American for-profit corporation and is currently located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. Merger completed on April 4, 2007 Duncan Niederauer (CEO) and Jan-Michiel Hessels (Chairman) are the key people for NYSE Euronext.

NYSE Euronext
It is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its 2317 listed companies at USD 13.39 trillion as of December 31, 2010. Average daily trading value was approximately USD 153 billion in 2008 and the volume for November 2010 was USD 1439 billion. The NYSE is open for trading from Monday to Friday between 9:30 am to 4:00 pm with the exception of holidays declared by the Exchange in advance. On February 15, 2011 NYSE and Deutsche Brse announced their merger to form a new company, wherein Deutsche Brse shareholders will have 60% ownership of the new entity, and NYSE-Euronext shareholders will have 40%.

NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronexts shareholders voted on Deutsche Brses allstock deal (which the board backs) on July 7 and Deutsche Brses shareholders voted on the deal by July 13 which has been completed now and shareholders of both the companies have voted for the deal to go ahead. The S&P 500 is the benchmark index of this exchange which is a free-float capitalization-weighted index (published since March 4, 1957 with a base level of 100 points) of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock market exchanges - the NYSE and the NASDAQ.

NYSE Euronext
The index focus is on US based companies although there are a few companies with headquarters in and/or incorporated in other countries. After the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 is the most widely followed index of large-cap American stocks. The index is the best known of the many indices owned and maintained by Standard & Poor's, a division of McGraw-Hill. The components of the S&P 500 are selected by a committee so that they are representative of all the industries in the United States economy. The index does include a handful (11 as of July 5, 2011) of nonU.S. companies. This group includes both formerly U.S. companies that have reincorporated outside the United States, as well as firms that have never been incorporated in the US.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, also referred to as the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30 or simply the Dow, is a stock market index and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow. It is now owned by the CME Group which is the majority owner of Dow Jones Indexes. The average is named after Dow and one of his business associates, statistician Edward Jones. It is an index that shows how 30 large and publicly owned companies based in the United States have traded during a standard trading session in the stock market. It is the second oldest U.S. market index after the Dow Jones Transportation Average which was also created by Dow.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Along with the NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 Index, the Dow is among the most closely watched US benchmark indices tracking targeted stock market activity. Components of the Dow trade on both the NASDAQ OMX and the NYSE Euronext, two of the largest stock market exchanges. Although Dow compiled the index to gauge the performance of the industrial sector within the American economy, the index's performance continues to be influenced by not only corporate and economic reports but also by domestic and foreign political events such as war and terrorism as well as by natural disasters that could potentially lead to economic harm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was founded by Charles Dow on May 26, 1896 and when it was first published in the late 1890s, the index stood at a level of 40.94 points.

Toronto Stock Exchange

On October 25, 1861, 24 men gathered at the Masonic Hall to officially create the Toronto Stock Exchange. The exchange was formally incorporated by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1878. Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX, formerly TSE) is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the seventh largest in the world by market capitalization. Based in Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is owned by and operated as a subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities. Tom Kloet (CEO) & Wayne Fox (Chairman) are the key people for TSX.

Toronto Stock Exchange

A broad range of businesses from Canada, the United States, Europe and other countries are represented on the exchange. The Toronto Stock Exchange is the leader in the mining and oil & gas sector as more mining and oil & gas companies are listed on Toronto Stock Exchange than any other exchange in the world. As on 31st December, 2010, the market capitalization of TSX was USD 2.17 trillion with 3741 listings. On April 23, 1997, the TSX's trading floor closed, making it the second-largest stock exchange in North America to choose a floorless, electronic (or virtual trading) environment

Toronto Stock Exchange

In 2000, the Toronto Stock Exchange became a for-profit company and in 2001 its acronym was changed to TSX from TSE. On February 9, 2011, the London Stock Exchange announced that they had agreed to merge with the TMX Group, Toronto Stock Exchange's parent, hoping to create a combined entity with a market capitalization of USD 5.9 trillion ( 3.7 trillion)

Toronto Stock Exchange

The exchange has a normal trading session from 09:30 am to 04:00 pm and a post-market session from 04:15 pm to 05:00 pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance. The S&P/TSX Composite Index is the benchmark index of the stock (equity) prices of the largest companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) as measured by market capitalization. The Toronto Stock Exchange listed companies in this index comprise about 70% of market capitalization for all Canadian-based companies listed on the TSX. It replaces the earlier TSE 300 Index

London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange Group PLC is a company registered in England and Wales under number 05369106, whose registered office is 10 Paternoster Square, London EC4M 7LS The London Stock Exchange is at the heart of the global financial market and is home to some of the largest, most successful and dynamic companies in the world. The Exchange has built on a long history of integrity, expertise and market knowledge to become the world's most international stock exchange. In October 2007 the Exchange merged with Borsa Italiana, creating Europe's leading diversified exchange business, London Stock Exchange Group.

London Stock Exchange

The Exchange is the most international of all the worlds stock exchanges, with around 3,000 companies from over 70 countries admitted to trading on its markets and as of December 2010, the Exchange had 2,966 listings and a market capitalization of USD 3.6 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement and the largest in Europe. From conducting its business in the coffee houses of 17th century London, the Exchange is one of the worlds oldest stock exchanges and can trace its history back to more than 300 years. Live financial broadcasts are transmitted throughout the day from the Exchange's own TV studios. Over 400 firms, mainly investment banks and stockbrokers, are members of the London Stock Exchange.

London Stock Exchange

On 9th February 2011, the London Stock Exchange Group announced that they had agreed to merge with the Toronto-based TMX Group, the owners of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Xavier Rolet, who was the CEO of the LSE Group, heads the new enlarged company while TMX CEO Thomas Kloet is the President of the new firm. The LSE's current trading platform is Linux-based own edition named "Millenium Exchange. The London Stock Exchange has four core areas - Equity Markets, Trading Services, Information Services & Derivatives. Normal trading sessions are from 08:00 to 16:30 every day of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.

London Stock Exchange

The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE or informally, the Footsie is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalized UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. The index is maintained by the FTSE Group, an independent company jointly owned by The Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange. Its name derives from the acronym of its two parent companies but has since been registered as a limited company in its own right. The index began on January 3, 1984 with a base level of 1000 points and is calculated on real time basis and published every 15 seconds. FTSE 100 companies represent about 81% of the market capitalization of the whole London Stock Exchange.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Founded in 1585 and located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbrse in German) is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world which is owned and operated by Deutsche Brse, which also owns the European futures exchange Eurex and the clearing company Clearstream. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange accounts for over 90% of the turnover in the German market and a very large share of the European market. In 2010, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange agreed to move to abolish floor trading and completed this transition in May 2011.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Today, trading takes place exclusively via the Xetra system, with redundant floor brokers taking on the role of market-makers on the new platform. More than 14 international exchanges have adopted Xetra (including the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1999, the Irish Stock Exchange in 2000 and the Budapest Stock Exchange in 2003). Approximately 47% of the 300 market participants in Frankfurt come from abroad. As of December, 2010, companies from more than 80 countries list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with 49% from North and South America. 31% from Europe (including Russia), 14% from Asia and 6% from Australia and Africa.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization and which was USD 4.7 trillion as on December 31, 2010. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange has more than 250 international trading institutions and more than 4,500 traders. Investors directly connected to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange represent 35% of the world's investment capital. In 2002 and 2004 Deutsche Brse was in advanced negotiations to take over London Stock Exchange but which were broken off in 2005.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Automatic Xetra trading runs from 09:00 to 17:30 with closing auction from 17:30-17:35 and floor brokers' trading times are from 8:00 to 20:00. The DAX (Deutscher Aktien IndeX) is the benchmark index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange which is a blue chip stock market index consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the exchange. Prices are taken from the electronic Xetra trading system. According to Deutsche Brse, the operator of Xetra, DAX measures the performance of the 30 largest German companies in terms of order book volume and market capitalization. The Base date for the DAX is 30 December, 1987 and it was started from a base value of 1,000. The Xetra system calculates the index after every 1 second since January 1, 2006.

Paris Stock Exchange

Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV, which is the second largest exchange in Europe behind the UK's London Stock Exchange. It now belongs to the NYSE Euronext group, the first global stock exchange. Until the late 1980s, this market operated as an open outcry exchange, with the agents de change meeting on the exchange floor of the Palais Brongniart. In 1986, the Paris Bourse started to implement an electronic trading system. This was known generically as CATS (Computer Assisted Trading System), but the Paris version was called CAC (Cotation Assiste en Continu).

Paris Stock Exchange

By 1989, quotations were fully automated. The Palais Brongniart hosted the French financial derivatives exchanges MATIF and MONEP, until they were fully automated in 1998. In the late 1990s, the Paris Bourse launched the Euronext initiative, an alliance of several European stock exchanges. All products are traded electronically on the NSC (Nouveau Systme de Cotation) trading system adopted by all of the Euronext members. Cash settlement is on a trading cycle of T+3 with trading hours from 9 am to 5:30 pm from Monday to Friday. Euronext Paris has a USD 2.9 trillion total market capitalization of listed companies and average daily trading value of its combined markets of approximately $102 billion or 77 billion.

Paris Stock Exchange

The CAC 40 is the benchmark French stock market index. The index represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant values among the 100 highest market caps on the Paris Bourse (now Euronext Paris). It is one of the main national indices of the pan-European stock exchange group Euronext alongside Brussels' BEL20, Lisbon's PSI-20 and Amsterdam's AEX. The CAC 40 takes its name from the Paris Bourse's early automation system Cotation Assiste en Continu (Continuous Assisted Quotation). Its base value of 1,000 was set on 31st December, 1987. In December 2003, the index's weighting system switched from being dependent on total market capitalization to free float market cap only, in line with other leading indices.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

The Tokyo Stock Exchange or TSE for short, is located in Tokyo, Japan and is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies. Taizo Nishimuro (Chairman), Atsushi Saito (President & CEO) and Yasuo Tobiyama (MD, COO & CFO) are the key people for TSE. The Tokyo Stock Exchange had 2,292 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of USD 3.8 trillion as of December 31, 2010. Its operating hours are from 9:00 to 11:00 am and from 12:30 to 3:00 pm.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

Stocks listed on the TSE are separated into the First Section for large companies, the Second Section for mid-sized companies and the Mothers (Market of the high-growth and emerging stocks) section for high-growth startup companies. As of October 31, 2010, there were 1,675 First Section companies, 437 Second Section companies and 182 Mothers companies. The main indices tracking the TSE are the Nikkei 225 index of companies selected by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan's largest business newspaper) and the TOPIX (Tokyo Stock Price Index) index based on the share prices of First Section companies.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

The Nikkei 225 began to be calculated on September 7, 1950 and since January 2010, the index is updated every 15 seconds during trading sessions. Currently, the Nikkei is the most widely quoted average of Japanese equities, similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. On March 15, 2011, the second working day after the massive earthquake in the northeast part of Japan, the index dropped over 10% to finish at 8605.15, a loss of 1,015 points. This put it at its lowest close since March 10, 2009 when it had closed at 7,054.98 which was 81.9% below its peak twenty years earlier.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

The TOPIX is calculated and published by the TSE. As of February 1, 2011, there are 1,669 companies listed on the First Section of the TSE and the market value for the index was 1.97 billion. TSE used to calculate and distribute TOPIX every second earlier but now has launched a new High-Speed Index dissemination service provided at the millisecond level starting from February 28, 2011. On 15 June 2007, the TSE paid $303 million to acquire a 4.99% stake in Singapore Exchange Ltd.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Hong Kong. It is Asia's 3rd largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and fifth largest in the world. As of December 31, 2010, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had 1,413 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of USD 2.7 trillion. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is the holding company for the exchange. The history of the securities exchange began formally in the late 19th century with the first establishment in 1891, though informal securities exchanges have been known to take place since 1861.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Starting from 7th March, 2011, the HKEX has extended its trading hours. In the first stage, its now 09.30-12.00 and 13.30-16.00. In the second stage, from 5th March, 2012, the afternoon trade will change to 13.00-16.00. The exchange first introduced a computer-assisted trading system on 2nd April 1986. In 1993, the exchange launched the "Automatic Order Matching and Execution System" (AMS), which was replaced by the third generation system (AMS/3) in October 2000. The benchmark index of HKEX is the Hang Seng Index which is a free float adjusted market capitalization-weighted stock market index.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

It is used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market and is the main indicator of the overall market performance in Hong Kong. These 45 constituent companies represent about 60% of capitalization of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HSI was started on November 24, 1969 and is currently compiled and maintained by Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank, one of the largest banks registered and listed in Hong Kong in terms of market capitalization. Its base level was 100 points.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

It is responsible for compiling, publishing and managing the Hang Seng Index and a range of other stock indices in Hong Kong. On January 2, 1985, four sub-indices were established in order to make the index clearer and to classify constituent stocks into four distinct sectors namely Hang Seng Finance Sub-index, Hang Seng Utilities Sub-index, Hang Seng Properties Sub-index and Hang Seng Commerce & Industry Sub-index. In the future, the number of constituent stocks will be increased to 50 in order to reflect the changes in the Hong Kong stock market and to maintain the index as the most representative market benchmark.

Korea Stock Exchange

Korea Exchange (KRX) is the sole securities exchange operator in South Korea. It is headquartered in Busan and has an office for cash markets and market oversight in Seoul. The Korea Exchange was created through the integration of Korea Stock Exchange, Korea Futures Exchange and KOSDAQ Stock Market under the Korea Stock & Futures Exchange Act. As of December 31, 2007, the Korea Exchange had 1,757 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of USD 1.1 trillion.

Korea Stock Exchange

The exchange has normal trading sessions from 09:00 am to 03:00 pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI is the benchmark index of KRX which is the index of all common stocks traded on the Stock Market Division (previously Korea Stock Exchange) of the Korea Exchange. It's the representative stock market index of South Korea like the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the USA. KOSPI was introduced in 1983 with the base value of 100 replacing Dow-style KCSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index).

Bombay Stock Exchange

Founded in 1875, the Bombay Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located on Dalal Street, Mumbai and is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. It traces its history to the 1850s, when four Gujarati and one Parsi stockbroker would gather under banyan trees in front of Mumbai's Town Hall. The location of these meetings changed many times, as the number of brokers constantly increased. The group eventually moved to Dalal Street in 1874 and in 1875 became an official organization known as The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association. The equity market capitalization of the companies listed on the BSE was USD 1.63 trillion as of December 31, 2010, making it the 4th largest stock exchange in Asia and the 8th largest in the world.

Bombay Stock Exchange

The BSE has the largest number of listed companies in the world. As of June 2011, there were over 5085 listed Indian companies and over 8196 scrips on the stock exchange. Madhu Kannan is currently the CEO & MD of BSE. Though many other exchanges exist, BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India account for the majority of the equity trading in India. While both have similar total market capitalization (about USD 1.6 trillion), share volume in NSE is almost twice as that of BSE. The normal trading session on the BSE is from 9.15am to 3.30pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.

Bombay Stock Exchange

The BSE SENSEX is a widely used market index in India and Asia. The Bombay Stock Exchange SENSEX (sensitive index) also referred to as BSE 30 is a free-float market capitalization-weighted index of 30 wellestablished and financially sound companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange. The 30 component companies which are some of the largest and most actively traded stocks, are representative of various industrial sectors of the Indian economy.

Bombay Stock Exchange

Published since January 1, 1986, the SENSEX is regarded as the pulse of the domestic stock markets in India. The base value of the SENSEX is taken as 100 points on April 1, 1979 and its base year as 1978-79. On 25 July, 2001, BSE launched DOLLEX-30, a dollar-linked version of SENSEX. As of April 21, 2011, the market capitalization of SENSEX was about INR 29,733 billion (USD 663 billion) which was 42.34% of market capitalization of BSE, while its free-float market capitalization was INR 15,690 billion (USD 350 billion). The index has increased by over ten times from June 1990 to the present. Using information from April 1979 onwards, the long-run rate of return on the BSE SENSEX works out to be 18.6% per annum which translates to roughly 9% per annum after compensating for inflation.

National Stock Exchange

Founded in 1992, the National Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at Mumbai, India. It is the 9th largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization and largest in India by daily turnover and number of trades, for both equities and derivative trading. NSE has a market capitalization of around USD 1.59 trillion and over 1552 listings as of December 31, 2010. Ravi Narain (MD) and Chitra Ramkrishna (JMD) are the key people for NSE. The NSE's key index is the S&P CNX Nifty, known as the NSE NIFTY (National Stock Exchange Fifty), an index of 50 major stocks weighted by market capitalization.

National Stock Exchange

NSE is mutually-owned by a set of leading financial institutions, banks, insurance companies and other financial intermediaries in India. NYSE Euronext and Goldman Sachs have taken a stake in the NSE. As of 2006, the NSE VSAT terminals, 2799 in total, covered more than 1500 cities across India. NSE is the third largest Stock Exchange in the world in terms of the number of trades in equities. It is the second fastest growing stock exchange in the world with a recorded growth of 16.6%. The normal trading session on the NSE is from 9.15am to 3.30pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.

National Stock Exchange

The Standard & Poor's CRISIL NSE Index 50 or S&P CNX Nifty nicknamed Nifty 50 or simply Nifty, is the benchmark index for large companies on the National Stock Exchange of India. The Nifty is a well diversified 50 stock index accounting for 23 sectors of the economy. It is used for a variety of purposes such as benchmarking fund portfolios, index based derivatives and index funds. Nifty is owned and managed by India Index Services and Products Ltd. (IISL), which is a joint venture between NSE and CRISIL.

National Stock Exchange

IISL is India's first specialized company focused upon the index as a core product. IISL has a marketing and licensing agreement with Standard & Poor's. The index is a free float market capitalization weighted index. From inception, the index used full market capitalization as weight assigned to different constituents. From June 26, 2009, the index is computed based on free float methodology. The base period for the S&P CNX Nifty index is November 3, 1995, which marked the completion of one year of operations of NSE's Capital Market Segment. The base value of the index has been set at 1000 points.

Shanghai Stock Exchange

Founded in 1891, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is a stock exchange that is based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the two stock exchanges operating independently in the People's Republic of China, the other is the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Shanghai Stock Exchange is the world's 5th largest stock market by market capitalization at USD 2.7 trillion as of December 31, 2010 and 900 listings as of February 2011. Unlike the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is still not entirely open to foreign investors due to tight capital account controls exercised by the Chinese mainland authorities.

Shanghai Stock Exchange

The current exchange was re-established on November 26, 1990 and was in operation on December 19 of the same year. It is a non-profit organization directly administered by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Geng Liang (Chairman) and Zhang Yujun (President) are the key people for SSE. The worlds two all-time largest IPOs till date of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) worth USD 22.1 billion and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) worth USD 21.9 billion are listed on SSE. The securities listed at the SSE include the three main categories of stocks, bonds and funds.

Shanghai Stock Exchange

The normal trading session on SSE in the morning session is from 09:30 to 11:30 and in the afternoon session is from 13:00 to 15:00 on all days except Saturday, Sunday and other holidays announced by the exchange in advance. There are two types of stocks being issued in the SSE - "A" shares (priced in the local renminbi yuan currency) and "B" shares (priced in US dollars). There has been a plan to eventually merge the two types of shares in the future. The SSE Composite Index is an index of all stocks (A and B shares) that are traded at the SSE. The base day for SSE Composite Index is December 19, 1990 and the base period is the total market capitalization of all stocks of that day. The Base Value is 100 points and the index was launched on July 15, 1991.

Sao Paulo Stock Exchange

Founded on August 23, 1890 by Emilio Rangel Pestana, the "Bolsa de Valores de So Paulo" (So Paulo Stock Exchange in English) is a stock exchange located at So Paulo, Brazil and which is now called as BM&F BOVESPA (Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias & Futuros de So Paulo). As of December 31, 2010, it had a market capitalization of USD 1.54 trillion with 470 listings making it one of the largest in the world. On May 8, 2008, the So Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) and the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange (BM&F) merged, creating BM&F BOVESPA which has offices in New York, Shanghai and London. Edemir Pinto (CEO) and Arminio Fraga (Chairman) are the key people for the exchange.

Sao Paulo Stock Exchange

The exchange has a pre-market session from 09:45am to 10:00am, a normal trading session from 10:00am to 5:00pm and a post-market session from 5:30pm to 7:00pm on all weekdays except the holidays declared by the Exchange in advance. The benchmark indicator of BM&F BOVESPA is the Indice Bovespa which is the index of about 50 stocks that are traded on the exchange. The index is composed by a theoretical portfolio with the stocks that accounted for 80% of the volume traded in the last 12 months and that were traded at least on 80% of the trading days. It is revised quarterly in order to keep its representativeness of the volume traded and in average the components of IBovespa represent 70% of the all the stock value traded. Its index number represents the present value of a portfolio begun on January 2, 1968 with a base level of 100 points.

Singapore Stock Exchange

Singapore Exchange Limited is an investment holding company located in Singapore and having its representative offices in Beijing and London which provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading. As of 31 January 2010, SGX had 774 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of SGD 650 billion. The revenues of SGX are mainly from the securities market (75%) and derivatives market (25%). SGX (Chew Choon Seng - Chairman & Magnus Bocker CEO) is a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian and Oceanian Stock Exchanges Federation. Singapore Exchange trades from 9am to 5pm with a 12:30pm to 2.00pm break in between.

Singapore Stock Exchange

SGX was formed on December 1, 1999 as a holding company and on November 23, 2000, SGX became the second exchange in Asia-Pacific (after Australian Securities Exchange was listed in 1998) to be listed via a public offer and a private placement. Listed on its own bourse, the SGX stock is a component of the benchmark index - the Straits Times Index. In March 2007, SGX bought a 5% stake in Bombay Stock Exchange for USD 42.7 million. The FTSE Straits Times Index (STI) is a capitalization-weighted stock market index that is regarded as the benchmark index for the Singapore stock market. It tracks the performance of the top 30 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is jointly calculated by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Singapore Exchange (SGX) and FTSE Group (FTSE). The STI replaced the Straits Times Industrials Index (STII) and began trading on August 31, 1998 at 885.26 points, in continuation of where the STII was left off.

The MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia and Far East) Index is a stock market index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of 21 developed markets outside the US & Canada. It is maintained by MSCI Barra, a provider of investment decision support tools. The index is market-capitalization weighted and it first ranks each stock in the investable universe from largest to smallest by market capitalization. The largest 70% will comprise the MSCI EAFE Large Cap (new index), the largest 85% will comprise the MSCI EAFE Standard and the largest 99% will comprise the MSCI Investable Market Index (IMI). The 71st to 85th percentiles represent the MSCI EAFE Mid Cap and the 85th to 99th percentiles represent the MSCI EAFE Small Cap. The index has been calculated since December 31, 1969, making it the oldest truly international stock index. It is probably the most common benchmark for foreign stocks.

Source: rbi.org.in