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)