Stock Exchanges in the World

Since most of my previous posts were on Sports and sporting icons (the area I like the most when it comes to quizzing), this time, I decided to write about something else which is related to General Knowledge.

There were few reasons which made me select this topic on the Stock Exchanges in the world.

Firstly, the fact that I work for a business solutions company which provides solutions to the stock brokerage firms through the world, and secondly the rapid growth of Colombo Stock Exchange during the month of September which made it one of the best performing stock exchanges in the world.

So firstly a bit of history on stock exchanges, and then some facts about some of the biggest stock exchanges throughout the world.

Amsterdam Stock Exchange

• Amsterdam Stock Exchange in The Netherlands is regarded as the world’s OLDEST stock exchange, in which in 1602, Dutch East India Company became the 1^st company in the history to be listed in a stock exchange.

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

• New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), is considered as the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at US$11.92 trillion as of Aug 2010. The NYSE stock trading area is located at 11, Wall Street, New York.

New York Stock Exchange - NYSE

TokyoStock Exchange (TSE)

• Located in Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) is the second largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, second only to the New York Stock Exchange. The Tokyo Stock Exchange had 2,414 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of US$3.1 trillion as of May 2010.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

NASDAQ

• NASDAQ stands for - National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Systems.

•  NASDAQ has more trading volume than any other electronic stock exchange in the world.

•  Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD)

NASDAQ Stock Exchange

Euronext

• Located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Euronext was formed on 22 September 2000 following a merger of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, Brussels Stock Exchange, and Paris Bourse.

•  Euronext manages two broad-based indices. The Euronext 100 Index is the Blue Chip index.

• Headed by CEO John Thain, NYSE Group merged with Euronext in 2007, to form NYSE Euronext.

London Stock Exchange (LSE)

• The Exchange was founded in 1801 and its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cathedral, London.

•  As of August 2010^[update], the Exchange had a market capitalization of US$2.63 trillion, making it the fourth largest stock exchange in the world and the largest in Europe.

London Stock Exchange (LSE)

Commonwealth Games - New Delhi, 2010

The 19^th Commonwealth Games was concluded in New Delhi, where the Indians held a multi-sport event for the third time in their history, after hosting the Asian Games in 1951 & 1982. The games were marred by poor preparations, lesser spectators for the sporting events and many other scandals. However, what compelled me to make a post on this topic were the efforts and achievements of some Sri Lankan athletes including (but not limited to) Manju Wanniarachchi, Chinthana Vidanage, Sudesh Pieris and Chaminda Wijekoon.

Australia topped the medals tally, with a 74 Gold Medals and a total of 177 Medals.

The games were held in Asia for the second time, as the games in 1998 were hosted by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be hosted by Glasgow, Scotland.

Summary of Commonwealth Games , 2010

• Nations participated - 71 

• Athletes participated – 6,081 

• Events – 272 

• Chief Organizer – Suresh Kalmadi (Chief Executive Officer and Indian Olympic Association president)

• Business Today magazine estimated that the Games cost 300 bn Indian Rupees ($6.8 bn). The 2010 Commonwealth Games are the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever (not adjusted for inflation).

• Official Mascot - "Shera", an anthropomorphized tiger

• Official Song - "Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto" was composed and performed by the Indian musician A. R. Rahman

Events & Medals

• Botswana and the Cayman Islands won their first ever Commonwealth games gold medals.

•  Australian swimmer Alicia Coutts emerged as the most successful athlete with five gold medals.

•  The winner of 100m (Sally Pearson of Australia) was stripped off with her gold medal, due to being tested positive with drugs.

•  Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang gave India the 1st gold medal in Commonwealth Games 2010.The pair won the 1st spot in the 10M Air Rifle men’s event.

•  Manju Wanniarachchi made Sri Lanka proud in the 2010 Games by winning the Gold Medal in Boxing Bantam Weight 56-kilo category.  This was the second occasion where a boxer won a Gold Medal for Sri Lanka in Commonwealth Games. 

Manju Wanniarachchi

• The first ever Gold Medal in Commonwealth Games for Sri Lanka was won by Barney Henricus in 1938 in the Featherweight category.

• Chinthana Vidanage and Sudesh Pieris bagged a silver medal and bronze medal respectively with their weight lifting events.

Chinthana Vidanage

Ayrton Senna - F1 Champion

Following my first post on F1 and its facts, and since most of my friends requested to include some facts about this fascinating driver, lets wake up our memories about Ayrton Senna.

Ayrton Senna is widely considered as one of the best drivers in the history of this sport, and many believe that if not the fatal crash of San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, which accounted the life of Senna, he would have stood above Michael Schumacher, the seven time F1 Championship winner.

Ayrton Senna

(Born – 21^st Mar, 1960, Died – 1^st May, 1994)

• Nationality – Brazilian

• First Race – 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Debut Team – Toleman

• First Championship point – South African Grand Prix, 1984

• First win – 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix 

• Last win – 1993 Australian Grand Prix 

• Last race – 1994 San Marino Grand Prix

• Total races – 162

• Wins - 41

• Championships – 3 (1988, 1990 & 1991)

• Senna holds the record for most victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix (6) and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins.

• In a survey conducted with 217 Formula1 drivers by the British magazine “Auto Sport” ranked, Ayrton Senna as the best ever driver in the history of F1.

• Senna died due to the injuries caused with a fatal accident in the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, ironically Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger too passed away in the same circuit, same year due to an accident caused during the practice sessions.

• Ayrton Senna’s nephew Bruno Senna, competed from team “Hispania” for his very 1^st F1 championship in 2010.

Ayrton Senna's fatal crash - San Marino Grand Prix, 1994