Stock exchange

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This article is about the trading entity. For the song by Miss Kittin & The Hacker, see Stock Exchange (song). A stock exchange is an entity that provides "trading" facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. Securities traded on a stock exchange include shares issued by companies,unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. To be able to trade a security on a certain stock exchange, it must be listed there. Usually, there is a central location at least for record keeping, but trade is increasingly less linked to such a physical place, as modern markets are electronic networks, which gives them advantages of increased speed and reduced cost of transactions. Trade on an exchange is by members only. The initial offering of stocks and bonds to investors is by definition done in the primary market and subsequent trading is done in the secondary market. A stock exchange is often the most important component of a stock market. Supply and demand in stock markets is driven by various factors that, as in all free markets, affect the price of stocks (see stock valuation). There is usually no compulsion to issue stock via the stock exchange itself, nor must stock be subsequently traded on the exchange. Such trading is said to be off exchange or over-the-counter. This is the usual way that derivatives and bonds are traded. Increasingly, stock exchanges are part of a global market for securities.
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Contents
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1 History 2 The role of stock exchanges 2.1 Raising capital for businesses 2.2 Mobilizing savings for investment 2.3 Facilitating company growth 2.4 Profit sharing

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2.5 Corporate governance 2.6 Creating investment opportunities for small investors 2.7 Government capital-raising for development projects 2.8 Barometer of the economy 3 Major stock exchanges 4 Listing requirements 4.1 Requirements by stock exchange 5 Ownership 6 Other types of exchanges 7 Gallery 8 See also 9 Notes 10 External links

[edit]History

Among many other things, the Code of Hammurabi recorded interest-bearing loans.

Securities markets took centuries to develop. The idea of debt dates back to the ancient world, as evidenced for example by ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets recording interest-bearing loans. There is little consensus among scholars as to when corporate stock was first traded. Some see the key event as the Dutch East India Company's founding in 1602, while others point to earlier developments. Economist Ulrike Malmendier of the University of California at Berkeley argues that a share market existed as far back as ancient Rome.

In the Roman Republic, which existed for centuries before the Empire was founded, there were societas publicanorum, organizations of contractors or leaseholders who performed templebuilding and other services for the government. One such service was the feeding of geese on the Capitoline Hill as a reward to the birds after their honking warned of a Gallic invasion in 390 B.C. Participants in such organizations had partes or shares, a concept mentioned various times by the statesman and orator Cicero. In one speech, Cicero mentions "shares that had a very high price at the time." Such evidence, in Malmendier's view, suggests the instruments were tradable, with fluctuating values based on an organization's success. The societas declined into obscurity in the time of the emperors, as most of their services were taken over by direct agents of the state. Tradable bonds as a commonly used type of security were a more recent innovation, spearheaded by the Italian city-states of the late medieval and earlyRenaissance periods. In 1171, the authorities of the Republic of Venice, concerned about their war-depleted treasury, drew a forced loan from the citizenry. Such debt, known asprestiti, paid 5 percent interest per year and had an indefinite maturity date. Initially regarded with suspicion, it came to be seen as a valuable investment that could be bought and sold. The bond market had begun. From 1262 to 1379, Venice never missed an interest payment, solidifying the credibility of the new instruments. Other Italian city-states such as Florence and Genoa became bond issuers as well, often as a means of paying for warfare. Bonds were traded widely in Italy and beyond, a business facilitated by bankers such as the Medicis. War between Venice and Genoa resulted in suspension of prestiti interest payments in the early 1380s, and when the market was restored, it was at a lower interest rate. Venice's bonds traded at steep discounts for decades thereafter. Other blows to financial stability resulted from the Hundred Years War, which caused monarchs of France and England to default on debts to Italian banks, and the Black Death, which ravaged much of Europe. Still, the idea of debt as a tradable investment endured. As with bonds, the concept of stock developed gradually. Some scholars place its origins as far back as ancient Rome. Partnership agreements dividing ownership into shares date back at least to the 13th century, again with Italian city-states in the vanguard. Such arrangements, however, typically extended only to a handful of people and were of limited duration, as with shipping partnerships that applied only to a single sea voyage.

House Ter Beurze in Bruges, Belgium.

The forefront of commercial innovation eventually shifted from Italy to northern Europe. The Hanseatic League, an alliance of mercantile towns such as Brugesand Antwerp, operated counting houses to expedite trade. The term "bourse," which has become synonymous with "stock market," arose in Bruges, either from a sign outside a trading center showing one or a few purses (bursa is Latin for bag) or because merchants gathered at the house of a man named Van der Burse; nobody's quite sure. By the late 1500s, British merchants were experimenting with joint-stock companies intended to operate on an ongoing basis; one such was the Muscovy Company, which sought to wrest trade with Russia away from Hanseatic dominance. The next big step was in Amsterdam. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was formed as a joint-stock company with shares that were readily tradable. The stock market had begun.

A bond issued by the Dutch East India Company, dating from 7 November 1623, for the amount of 2,400 florins.

The Dutch East India Company, formed to build up the spice trade, operated as a colonial ruler in what's nowIndonesia and beyond, a purview that included conducting military operations against recalcitrant natives and competing colonial powers. Control of the company was held tightly by its

directors, with ordinary shareholders not having much influence on management or even access to the company's accounting statements. However, shareholders were rewarded well for their investment. The company paid an average dividend of over 16 percent per year from 1602 to 1650. Financial innovation in Amsterdam took many forms. In 1609, investors led by one Isaac Le Maire formed history's first bear syndicate, but their coordinated trading had only a modest impact in driving down share prices, which tended to be robust throughout the 17th century. By the 1620s, the company was expanding its securities issuance with the first use of corporate bonds. The Dutch West India Company was formed in 1621, bringing a new issuer to the burgeoning securities market. Amsterdam's growth as a financial center survived the tulip mania of the 1630s, in which contracts for the delivery of flower bulbs soared wildly and then crashed. New techniques and instruments proliferated for securities as well as commodities, including early forms of options trading and margin trading. Joseph de la Vega, also known as Joseph Penso de la Vega and by other variations of his name, was an Amsterdam trader from a Spanish Jewish family and a prolific writer as well as a successful businessman in 17th-century Amsterdam. His 1688 book Confusion of Confusions explained the workings of the city's stock market. It was the earliest book about stock trading, taking the form of a dialogue between a merchant, a shareholder and a philosopher, the book described a market that was sophisticated but also prone to excesses, and de la Vega offered advice to his readers on such topics as the unpredictability of market shifts and the importance of patience in investment. The year that de la Vega published also brought an event that helped spread financial techniques and talent from Amsterdam to London. This was the "glorious revolution," in which Dutch-born William of Orange ascended to England's throne. William sought to modernize England's finances to pay for its wars, and thus the kingdom's first government bonds were issued in 1693 and the Bank of England was set up the following year. Soon thereafter, English joint-stock companies began going public.

NASDAQ was the first electronic stock exchange.

London's first stockbrokers, however, were barred from the old commercial center known as the Royal Exchange, reportedly because of their rude manners. Instead, the new trade was conducted from coffee houses along Exchange Alley. By 1698, a broker named John Castaing, operating out of Jonathan's Coffee House, was posting regular lists of stock and commodity prices. Those lists mark the beginning of the London Stock Exchange. One of history's greatest financial bubbles occurred in the next few decades. At the center of it were the South Sea Company, set up in 1711 to conduct English trade with South America, and the Mississippi Company, focused on commerce with France's Louisiana colony and touted by transplanted Scottish financierJohn Law, who was acting in effect as France's central banker. Investors snapped up shares in both, and whatever else was available. In 1720, at the height of the mania, there was even an offering of "a company for carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is." By the end of that same year, share prices were collapsing, as it became clear that expectations of imminent wealth from the Americas were overblown. In London, Parliament passed the Bubble Act, which stated that only royally chartered companies could issue public shares. In Paris, Law was stripped of office and fled the country. Stock trading was more limited and subdued in subsequent decades. Yet the market survived, and by the 1790s shares were being traded in the young United States. On February 8, 1971, NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange, started its operations.

[edit]The

role of stock exchanges

Stock exchanges have multiple roles in the economy. This may include the following:[1]

[edit]Raising

capital for businesses

The Stock Exchange provide companies with the facility to raise capital for expansion through selling shares to the investing public.[2]

[edit]Mobilizing

savings for investment

When people draw their savings and invest in shares, it leads to a more rational allocation of resources because funds, which could have been consumed, or kept in idle deposits with banks, are mobilized and redirected to promote business activity with benefits for several economic sectors such as agriculture, commerce and industry, resulting in stronger economic growth and higherproductivity levels of firms.

[edit]Facilitating

company growth

Companies view acquisitions as an opportunity to expand product lines, increase distribution channels, hedge against volatility, increase its market share, or acquire other necessary business assets. A takeover bid or a merger agreement through the stock market is one of the simplest and most common ways for a company to grow by acquisition or fusion.

[edit]Profit

sharing

Both casual and professional stock investors, through dividends and stock price increases that may result in capital gains, share in the wealth of profitable businesses.

[edit]Corporate

governance

By having a wide and varied scope of owners, companies generally tend to improve management standards and efficiency to satisfy the demands of these shareholders, and the more stringent rules for public corporations imposed by public stock exchanges and the government. Consequently, it is alleged that public companies (companies that are owned by shareholders who are members of the general public and trade shares on public exchanges) tend to have better management records than privately held companies (those companies where shares are not publicly traded, often owned by the company founders and/or their families and heirs, or otherwise by a small group of investors). Despite this claim, some well-documented cases are known where it is alleged that there has been considerable slippage in corporate governance on the part of some public companies. The dot-com bubble in the late 1990's, and the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007-08, are classical examples of corporate mismanagement. Companies like Pets.com (2000), Enron

Corporation (2001), One.Tel(2001), Sunbeam (2001), Webvan (2001), Adelphia (2002), MCI WorldCom (2002), Parmalat (2003), American International Group (2008), Bear Stearns (2008), Lehman Brothers (2008), General Motors(2009) and Satyam Computer Services (2009) were among the most widely scrutinized by the media. However, when poor financial, ethical or managerial records are known by the stock investors, the stock and the company tend to lose value. In the stock exchanges, shareholders of underperforming firms are often penalized by significant share price decline, and they tend as well to dismiss incompetent management teams.

[edit]Creating

investment opportunities for small investors

As opposed to other businesses that require huge capital outlay, investing in shares is open to both the large and small stock investors because a person buys the number of shares they can afford. Therefore the Stock Exchange provides the opportunity for small investors to own shares of the same companies as large investors.

[edit]Government

capital-raising for development projects

Governments at various levels may decide to borrow money to finance infrastructure projects such as sewage and water treatment works or housing estates by selling another category of securitiesknown as bonds. These bonds can be raised through the Stock Exchange whereby members of the public buy them, thus loaning money to the government. The issuance of such bonds can obviate the need, in the short term, to directly tax citizens to finance developmentthough by securing such bonds with the full faith and credit of the government instead of with collateral, the government must eventually tax citizens or otherwise raise additional funds to make any regular coupon payments and refund the principal when the bonds mature.

[edit]Barometer

of the economy

At the stock exchange, share prices rise and fall depending, largely, on market forces. Share prices tend to rise or remain stable when companies and the economy in general show signs of stability and growth. An economic recession, depression, or financial crisis could eventually lead to a stock market crash. Therefore the movement of share prices and in general of the stock indexes can be an indicator of the general trend in the economy.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) (Marathi: Bombay hare Bzar) (formerly, The Stock Exchange, Bombay) is a stock exchange located in Dalal Street, Mumbai and is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. The Bombay Stock Exchange has the largest number of listed companies in the world, with 4990 listed as of August 2010.[2] As of August 2010, the equity market capitalization of the companies listed on the BSE was US$1.78trillion, making it the 4th largest stock exchange in Asia and the 11th largest in the world.
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It has also been cited as the world's best performing stock market.[3]

With over 4,900 Indian companies listed and over 7700 scrips on the stock exchange,[4] the Bombay Stock Exchange 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 the majority of the trading in shares in India.
Contents
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1 Hours of operation 2 History 3 Timeline 4 BSE indices 5 Sensex correlation with emerging market indices 6 Awards 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit]Hours

of operation
Timing

Session

Beginning of the Day Session 8:00 - 9:00

pre-open trading session

9:00 - 9:15

Trading Session

9:15 - 15:30

Position Transfer Session

15:30 - 15:50

Closing Session

15:50 - 16:05

Option Exercise Session

16:05 - 16:35

Margin Session

16:35 - 16:50

Query Session

16:50 - 17:35

End of Day Session

17:30

The hours of operation for the BSE quoted above are stated in terms the local time (i.e. GMT +5:30) in Mumbai , India. BSE's normal trading sessions are on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.[5] [edit]History

The Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers house the Bombay Stock Exchange since 1980.

The Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest exchange in Asia. It traces its history to the 1850s, when 4 Gujarati and 1 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'. In 1956, the BSE became the first stock exchange to be recognized by the Indian Government under the Securities

Contracts Regulation Act. The Bombay Stock Exchange developed the BSE Sensex in 1986, giving the BSE a means to measure overall performance of the exchange. In 2000 the BSE used this index to open its derivatives market, trading Sensex futures contracts. The development of Sensex options along with equity derivatives followed in 2001 and 2002, expanding the BSE's trading platform. Historically an open outcry floor trading exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange switched to an electronic trading system in 1995. It took the exchange only fifty days to make this transition. This automated, screen-based trading platform called BSE On-line trading (BOLT) currently has a capacity of 8 million orders per day. The BSE has also introduced the world's first centralized exchange-based internet trading system, BSEWEBx.co.in to enable investors anywhere in the world to trade on the BSE platform.[6] The BSE is currently housed in Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers atDalal Street, Fort area. [edit]Timeline Following is the timeline on the rise of the Sensex through Indian stock market history. 1830's Business on corporate stocks and shares in Bank and Cotton presses started in Mumbai. 1860-1865 Cotton price bubble as a result of the American Civil War 1870 - 90's Sharp increase in share prices of jute industries followed by a boom in tea stocks and coal 1978-79 Base year of Sensex, defined to be 100. 1986 Sensex first compiled[7] using a market Capitalization-Weighted methodology for 30 component stocks representing well-established companies across key sectors. 30 October 2006 The Sensex on October 30, 2006 crossed the magical figure of 13,000 and closed at 13,024.26 points, up 117.45 points or 0.9%. It took 135 days for the Sensex to move from 12,000 to 13,000 and 123 days to move from 12,500 to 13,000. 5 December 2006 The Sensex on December 5, 2006 crossed the 14,000-mark to touch 14,028 points. It took 36 days for the Sensex to move from 13,000 to the 14,000 mark. 6 July 2007 The Sensex on July 6, 2007 crossed the magical figure of 15,000 to touch 15,005 points in afternoon trade. It took seven months for the Sensex to move from 14,000 to 15,000 points. 19 September 2007 The Sensex scaled yet another milestone during early morning trade on September 19, 2007. Within minutes after trading began, the Sensex crossed 16,000, rising by 450 points from the previous close. The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange's sensitive index took 53 days to reach 16,000 from 15,000. Nifty also touched a new high at 4659, up 113 points.

The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 654 points at 16,323. The NSE Nifty gained 186 points to close at 4,732. 26 September 2007 The Sensex scaled yet another height during early morning trade on September 26, 2007. Within minutes after trading began, the Sensex crossed the 17,000-mark. Some profit taking towards the end saw the index slip into red to 16,887 - down 187 points from the day's high. The Sensex ended with a gain of 22 points at 16,921. 9 October 2007 The BSE Sensex crossed the 18,000-mark on October 9, 2007. It took just 8 days to cross 18,000 points from the 17,000 mark. The index zoomed to a new all-time intra-day high of 18,327. It finally gained 789 points to close at an all-time high of 18,280. The market set several new records including the biggest single day gain of 789 points at close, as well as the largest intra-day gains of 993 points in absolute term backed by frenzied buying after the news of the UPA and Left meeting on October 22 put an end to the worries of an impending election. 15 October 2007 The Sensex crossed the 19,000-mark backed by revival of funds-based buying in blue chip stocks in metal, capital goods and refinery sectors. The index gained the last 1,000 points in just four trading days. The index touched a fresh all-time intra-day high of 19,096, and finally ended with a smart gain of 640 points at 19,059.The Nifty gained 242 points to close at 5,670. 29 October 2007 The Sensex crossed the 20,000 mark on the back of aggressive buying by funds ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting. The index took only 10 trading days to gain 1,000 points after the index crossed the 19,000-mark on October 15. The major drivers of today's rally were index heavyweights Larsen and Toubro, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI among others. The 30-share index spurted in the last five minutes of trade to fly-past the crucial level and scaled a new intra-day peak at 20,024.87 points before ending at its fresh closing high of 19,977.67, a gain of 734.50 points. The NSE Nifty rose to a record high 5,922.50 points before ending at 5,905.90, showing a hefty gain of 203.60 points. 8 January 2008 The sensex peaks. It crossed the 21,000 mark in intra-day trading after 49 trading sessions. This was backed by high market confidence of increased FII investment and strong corporate results for the third quarter. However, it later fell back due to profit booking. 13 June 2008 The sensex closed below 15,200 mark, Indian market suffer with major downfall from January 21, 2008 25 June 2008 The sensex touched an intra day low of 13,731 during the early trades, then pulled back and ended up at 14,220 amidst a negative sentiment generated on the Reserve Bank of India hiking CRR by 50 bps. FII outflow continued in this week.

2 July 2008 The sensex hit an intra day low of 12,822.70 on July 2, 2008. This is the lowest that it has ever been in the past year. Six months ago, on January 10, 2008, the market had hit an all time high of 21206.70. This is a bad time for the Indian markets, although Reliance and Infosys continue to lead the way with mostly positive results. 6 October 2008 The sensex closed at 11801.70 hitting the lowest in the past 2 years. 10 October 2008 The Sensex today closed at 10527, 800.51 points down from the previous day having seen an intraday fall of as large as 1063 points. Thus, this week turned out to be the week with largest percentage fall in the SenseX 18 May 2009 After the result of 15th Indian general election Sensex gained 2100.79 points from the previous close of 12173.42, a record one-day gain. In the opening trade itself the Sensex evinced a 15% gain over the previous close which led to a two-hour suspension in trading. After trading resumed, the Sensex surged again, leading to a full day suspension of trading. 19 October 2010 BSE introduced the 15-minute special pre-open trading session, a mechanism under which investors can bid for stocks before the market opens. The mechanism, known as 'pre-open session call auction', lasted for 15 minutes (from 9:00-9:15 am).[8] 5 November 2010 BSE crossed the 21000 mark( exactly 21004.96)

27 December 2010 BSE is at 20,028.93 [edit]BSE

indices

Bombay Stock Exchange

For the premier stock exchange that pioneered the securities transaction business in India, over a century of experience is a proud achievement. A lot has changed since 1875 when 318 persons by paying a then princely amount of Re. 1, became members of what today is called Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE). Over the decades, the stock market in the country has passed through good and bad periods. The journey in the 20th century has not been an easy one. Till the decade of eighties, there was no measure or scale that could precisely measure the various ups and downs in the Indian stock market. BSE, in 1986, came out with a Stock Index-SENSEX- that subsequently became the barometer of the Indian stock market. The launch of SENSEX in 1986 was later followed up in January 1989 by introduction of BSE National Index (Base: 1983-84 = 100). It comprised 100 stocks listed at five major stock exchanges in India - Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Madras. The BSE National Index was renamed BSE-100 Index from October 14, 1996 and since then, it is being calculated taking into consideration only the prices of stocks listed at BSE. BSE launched the dollar-linked version of BSE-100 index on May 22, 2006. With a view to provide a better representation of the increasing number of listed companies, larger market capitalization and the new industry sectors, BSE launched on 27 May 1994 two new index series viz., the 'BSE-200' and the 'DOLLEX-200'. Since then, BSE has come a long way in attuning itself to the varied needs of investors and market participants. In order to fulfill the need for still broader, segment-specific and sector-specific indices, BSE has continuously been increasing the range of its indices. BSE-500 Index and 5 sectoral indices were launched in 1999. In 2001, BSE launched BSE-PSU Index, DOLLEX-30 and the country's first free-float based index - the BSE TECk Index. Over the years, BSE shifted all its indices to the free-float methodology (except BSE-PSU index). BSE disseminates information on the Price-Earnings Ratio, the Price to Book Value Ratio and the Dividend Yield Percentage on day-to-day basis of all its major indices. The values of all BSE indices are updated on real time basis during market hours and displayed through the BOLT system, BSE website and news wire agencies. All BSE Indices are reviewed periodically by the BSE Index Committee. This Committee which comprises eminent independent finance professionals frames the broad policy guidelines for the development and maintenance of all BSE indices. The BSE Index Cell carries out the day-to-day maintenance of all indices and conducts research on development of new indices.[9] [edit]Sensex

correlation with emerging market indices