Major Stock Markets of

the World

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

World Federation Of
Exchanges
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)

ranks the stock exchanges of the world.

It is the trade association of 58 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.
To be a member, exchanges mustadhereto
the WFE Membership Criteria. Candidates are
selected following a peer review. There are 2
Associates, 17 WFE Affiliates with
separateprofessionalrelations and 31
exchanges which are WFECorrespondents.

WFE Data as on 31st May,

2016
NYSE EuroNext USD 18.57 trillion with 2360

listings
NASDAQ USD 7.15 trillion with 2855 listings
Tokyo SE USD 4.77 trillion with 3521 listings
London SE USD 3.72 trillion with 2636 listings
Paris SE USD 3.42 trillion with 1063 listings
Hong Kong SE USD 2.98 trillion with 1899 listings
Toronto SE USD 1.88 trillion with 3495 listings
Frankfurt SE USD 1.67 trillion with 601 listings
SIX Swiss SE USD 1.44 trillion with 268 listings
Madrid SE USD 7.09 billion with 3591 listings

NASDAQ
Actually called as NASDAQ OMX as managed by the OMX Group

of US
As of 31st May, 2015, there are 2803 listings with a market

capitalization of USD 7.37 trillion

NASDAQ has a pre-market session from 7:00am to 9:30am, a

normal trading session from 9:30am to 4:00pm and a postmarket 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

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

NASDAQ
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.
The combined company still operates as two separate exchanges but
is able to compete with NYSE.
In 2013, NASDAQ was approached byPEFirmCarlyle Groupabout
taking the exchange operator private, but the talks fell apart over a
disagreement on price.
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.

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.
On March 8, 1817, the organization drafted a constitution and renamed itself

the "New York Stock & Exchange Board."

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,

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.

It is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its 2458

listed companies at USD 19.69trillion as of 31st May, 2015.

Average daily trading value was approximately USD 153billion in 2008 and

the volume for November 2010 was USD 1439billion.

The NYSE is open for trading from Monday to Friday between 9:30am to

4:00pm 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
On February 1, 2012, the European Commission blocked the merger of

NYSE with Deutsche Brse, stating that the merger "would have led to a
near-monopoly in European financial derivatives worldwide". Instead,
Deutsche Brse and NYSE will have to sell either their Eurex derivatives
or LIFFE shares in order to not create a monopoly.
On February 2, 2012, NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Brse agreed with
strong opposition by the EU for the planned merger, to scrap the merger.
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.
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 non-U.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.
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 (now TSX & formerly TSE) is the largest
stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the
eighth 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.
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 May, 2015, the market capitalization of TSX was USD 2.11
trillion with 3691 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).
Based on data from December 30, 2010, the new stock exchange
would have been the second largest in the world with a market cap
48% greater than the NASDAQ.
On June 29, 2011, about two weeks after the Maple Group (composed
of the leading banks and financial institutions of Canada) launched a
competing bid (cash and stock deal of CAD 3.7 billion on June 13,
2011), the LSEG-TMX deal was terminated after failing to receive the
minimum 67% voter approval from shareholders of TMX Group.
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 founded in 1801 and

registered in England and Walesunder 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 becomethe world's most international stock exchange. In

October 2007, the Exchange merged with Borsa Italiana, creating Europe's
leading diversified exchange business, the London Stock Exchange Group.
The Exchange is the most international of all the worlds stock exchanges,

witharound 3,000 companies fromover 70 countries admitted to trading on

its markets and as of 31st May, 2015, the Exchange had 2727 listings and a
market capitalization of USD 4.31 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.
The London Stock Exchange however announced it was terminating the
merger with TMX on 29th June, 2011, citing that "LSEG and TMX Group
believe that the merger is highly unlikely to achieve the required two-thirds
majority approval at the TMX Group shareholder meeting as even though the
LSE obtained the necessary support from its shareholders, it failed to obtain
the required support from TMX's shareholders.
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.
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.
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 31st December, 2013, 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 ninth largest stock

exchange by market capitalization which was USD 1.82 trillion as on

31st May, 2015 with 647 listed companies.
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.
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).
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 9am to 5:30pm from Monday to Friday.
As on 31st May, 2015, Euronext Paris had a USD 3.5trillion total
market capitalization of its 1060 listed companies making it the
worlds fifth largest stock exchange.

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 3488 listed companies with a combined
market capitalization of USD 5.01 trillion as of 31 st May, 2015 with its
operating hours from 9:00 to 11:30 am and from 12:30 to 3:00 pm.
The LSE and the TSE are developing jointly traded products and share
technology, marking the latest cross-border deal among bourses as
international competition heats up.
The TSE is also looking for some partners in Asia, and more specifically
is seeking an alliance with the SGX, which is considered as becoming a
leading financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region. On 15 June 2007, the
TSE had paid $303 million to acquire a 4.99% stake in Singapore
Exchange Ltd.
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.

Tokyo Stock Exchange

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.
The Nikkei 225 began to be calculated daily from 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.
The Nikkei hit its all-time high on December 29, 1989, when it reached an
intra-day high of 38,957.44 before closing at 38,915.87, having grown sixfold during the decade. Since then, it has lost nearly all these gains, closing
at 7,054.98 on March 10, 200981.9% below its peak twenty years earlier.
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.
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 JPY 197.4 trillion.
The index transitioned from a system where a company's weighting is
based on the total number of shares outstanding (commonly called the
total float) to a weighting based on the number of shares available for
trading (called the free float). This transition took place in three phases
starting in October 2005 and was completed in June 2006.
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.

Hong Kong Stock

Exchange
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Hong

Kong. It is Asia's 2nd largest stock exchange in terms of market

capitalization behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and 6th largest in
the world.
As of 31st May, 2015, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had 1784
listed companies with a combined market capitalization of USD
3.97trillion. 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.
Starting from 7th March, 2011, the HKEX has extended its trading
hours. In the first stage, it was 09.30-12.00 and 13.30-16.00. In the
second stage, from 5th March, 2012, the afternoon trade has
changed 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 48 constituent companies represent about
60% of capitalization of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
HSI was created by Hong Kong banker Stanley Kwan and was started on
November 24, 1969 with a base level of 100 points 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. Hang Seng Bank, despite
being a public company, is held in majority by HSBC.
It is responsible for compiling, publishing and managing the Hang Seng Index
and a range of other stock indices in Hong Kong.
Its all-time low is 58.61 points set on August 31, 1967, after the base value
was established but before the publication of the index. Its all-time high, set
on October 30, 2007, was 31,958.41 points during trading hours. On October
8, 2008, the index closed at 15,431.73 over 50% less than the all-time high
and the lowest closing value in over two years. On October 27, 2008, the
index further fell to 10,676.29 points, having fallen nearly two-thirds from its
all-time peak, but passed the 20,000 point milestone again to 20,063.93 on 24
July 2009. As of July 30, 2012, the index is hovering around 19,000 to 20,000
points.
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.

Madrid Stock Exchange

Founded in 1831, Bolsa de Madrid (Madrid Stock Exchange) is the largest and

most international of Spain's four regional stock exchanges (the others are
located in Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao) that trade shares and convertible
bonds and fixed income securities, and both government and private-sector
debt.
Bolsa de Madrid is owned by Bolsas y Mercados Espaoles (BME Group)
Trading is linked through the electronic Spanish Stock Market Interconnection
System (SIBE), which handles more than 90% of transactions.
Trading on SIBE is conducted from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm & open outcry from
10.00 am to 11.30 am, both from Monday to Friday with a trading cycle of T+3.
The membership of the Madrid Stock Exchange consists of 41 major financial
institutions and 12 established securities dealers.
At December 31, 2001, approximately 1477 domestic and foreign companies
had their equity securities listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange. The total
market capitalization of the equity securities listed on the Madrid Stock
Exchange on May, 2007 was EUR 1.2 trillion.
The Madrid Stock Exchange General Index (IGBM) is the exchange's principle
index and represents the construction, financial services, communications,
consumer, capital/intermediate goods, energy and market services sectors.
This index was developed with a base value of 100 points as of December 31,
1985.
The IBEX 35 Index is a capitalization-weighted index comprising the 35 most
liquid Spanish stocks traded in the continuous market and is Bolsa de Madrid's
benchmark. Bolsa de Madrid also offers the FTSE-Latibex Index, a European
market for Latin American stocks. The IBEX New Market Index, for emerging
companies, was offered from 2000 to 2007.

SIX Swiss Exchange

SIX Swiss Exchange (formerly SWX Swiss Exchange), based in Zurich, is Switzerland's

principal stock exchange (the other being Berne Exchange) & the worlds 10th largest
stock exchange with a market capitalization of USD 1.61 trillion with its 275 listed
companies as on 31st May, 2015.
SIX Swiss Exchange also trades other securities such as Swiss government bonds and
derivatives such as stock options.
It was the first stock exchange in the world to incorporate a fully automated trading,
clearing and settlement system in 1995. The exchange is controlled by an association
of 55 banks. Each of these banks have equal voting rights in the matter of decision
making concerning the management and regulation of the exchange.
It is the joint owner of Eurex, the world's largest futures and derivatives exchange
along with their German partners Deutsche Brse. In July 2004, however, SIX Swiss
Exchange rejected a merger proposal from the German company, that analysts
anticipated as profitable for many small companies listed on SIX Swiss Exchange.
The exchange's normal trading sessions are from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm on all days of
the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in
advance.
The main stock market index for the SIX Swiss Exchange is the SMI, the Swiss Market
Index. The index consists of the 20 most significant equity-securities based on the free
float market capitalization.
The SMI was introduced on 30 June, 1988 at a base value of 1500 points. Its
composition is examined once a year. Calculation takes place in real-time, as soon as a
new transaction occurs in a security contained in the SMI, an updated index level is
calculated and displayed.
The securities contained in the SMI currently represent more than 90% of the entire
market capitalization as well as of 90% trading volume of all the equities listed on the
SIX Swiss Exchange. Because the SMI is considered to be a mirror of the overall Swiss
stock market, it is used as the underlying index for numerous derivative financial
instruments such as options, futures and index funds.

 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.