A stock exchange sometimes referred to as a securities exchange, is a marketplace used by stockbrokers and traders to purchase and sell stocks or shares, securities, some other monetary instruments, and bonds. Stock exchanges, furthermore, may procure structures for the issue and respite of instruments and securities, equity events comprising the revenue of income and profits.
Stock exchanges can be administered as a criterion for the state of the federal economy and, more collectively, can also be a crucial indicator of the strength of the work economy. This is because the development of the monetary market correlates to elevated precepts of living and employment rates.
Securities or equity exchanged on a stock exchange encompass stock allocated by listed businesses or companies, pooled investment products, bonds, unit trusts, and derivatives. In addition, stock exchanges frequently operate as “continuous auction” markets with sellers and shoppers consummating marketings via open clamour at a primary location like the floor of the building of exchange, which is the conventional method or by wielding an electronic trading platform, done most popularly in the new era.
Conventionally, as we mentioned, stock exchanges were material buildings in all the countries of operation. Still, with the transition toward modern electronic trading, several countries have shut down their trading floors and instead shifted to alternative online platforms. Nonetheless, the organisations themselves still prevail, with some being greater than ever with market capitalizations of around trillions of dollars.
So in this article, we’ll list some of the world’s major stock exchanges.
- New York Stock Exchange
The number one position on our list is occupied by the greatest city in the greatest country in the world. The NYSE or New York Stock Exchange, is situated on Wall Street in York City and was established in 1817, but it wasn’t until 1963 that it operated under the NYSE title. The New York Stock Exchange Group had a tumultuous boulevard to its current top position, with nefarious historical events like the 1929 Wall Street Crash, and Black Tuesday of 1987.
Despite all this, it has retained to become and stay the biggest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization in the whole world since the climax of World War I, during which it surpassed the London Stock Exchange. In the year 2012, the New York Stock Exchange was overthrown by Intercontinental Exchange, an American fortunes exchange association.
The market capitalization of the New York Stock Exchange was a whopping sum of approximately 23.12 trillion dollars as of March 2018. This is almost 40% of the cumulative value of the world stock market.
There are about 2400 companies registered on the New York Stock Exchange, spanning varied sectors like healthcare, consumer goods, finance, and energy. A few of its more well-known companies comprise Citigroup Inc ©, Pfizer Inc (GE), Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM), and the Dow Jones is the extensively utilised index for tracing the value of the NYSE. Still, factors can moreover be registered on the NASDAQ.
What is NASDAQ?
The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, popularly known as the NASDAQ stock exchange is also located in New York, in the prominent Times Square. It was established by a union of provincial stockbrokers in 1971. The NASDAQ is extraordinary in the way that even in the early years after its founding, it didn’t operate on an open outcry system. But rather it has invariably operated on a telephone-based and computer trading network, making it the world’s foremost electronic stock exchange.
The market capitalization of NASDAQ reached um und 10.93 trillion dollars as of March 2018, which positions it as the second biggest stock exchange in the world. Nevertheless, it comes first in having the biggest market capitalization in terms of technology stocks. Some of the prime companies listed in NASDAQ encompass companies like Apple (APPL), Facebook (FB), Tesla (TSLA), and Microsoft (MSFT). The Nasdaq 100 is the criterion used to assess the performance of the NASDAQ exchange.
- Tokyo Stock Exchange
The TSE or Tokyo Stock Exchange was established in 1878 and is the biggest stock exchange in Japan. However, the TSE encountered problems after the end of the second World War that even led to its suspension during the period of August 1945 and April 1949. This was mainly because of the country’s involvement in the world war.
However, in the year 1949, it was rebranded and is now generally recognized under the title of its owner which is the Japan Exchange Group. The group was originally established in the coalition between the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Stock Exchange in 2013. And now, The Tokyo Stock Exchange partners with various exchanges all across the world, including the London Stock Exchange.
In today’s time, there are about 3575 companies registered on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which has led the market capitalization of TSE to reach 6.22 trillion dollars, according to the statistics provided in March 2018. The standard index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange is the Nikkei 225, which encompasses the prime companies registered on the TSE like Toyota Motor Corp, Sony Corp, and Honda Motor Co.
- Shanghai Stock Exchange
The next major stock exchange on our list is the SSE or Shanghai Stock Exchange. It is one of the three autonomous stock exchanges prevailing in the People’s Republic of China, and the rest of the two are Shenzhen and Hong Kong. As a result, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is the fourth largest stock exchange worldwide. Moreover, it has achieved this mark despite being only founded in 1990. The origins of the exchange date back to 1866, but it was discontinued in the year of 1949 as a result of the Chinese revolution.
All the stocks registered on the Shanghai Stock Exchange have ‘A’ shares priced in the regional currency, yuan, and ‘B’ shares cited in US dollars. ‘A’ stakes are for the country’s investment only but have the exception of investors who are entitled or qualified for the foreign investment policy, whereas ‘B’ shares are accessible to both foreign and domestic investors.
The market capitalization of the Shanghai Stock Exchange attained a sum of about 5.01 trillion dollars as of March 2018. Traders can trace the rendition of stocks registered on the Shanghai Stock Exchange wielding the SSE Composite Index, typically inferred as the Shanghai Composite. This comprises the biggest stocks listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, and PetroChina.
There are also some other major stock exchanges of the world, such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, established in 1891, holding the position of being the third biggest stock exchange in Asia and a value of 4.46 trillion dollars in market capitalisation. The LSE, or London Stock Exchange, established in 1801, has a value of 4.38 trillion dollars in market capitalisation as of March 2018.
