Australian
Securities Exchange
The
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is the primary
stock exchange in Australia. The ASX began as
separate state-based exchanges established as
early as 1861. Today trading is all-electronic
and the exchange is a public company, listed on
the exchange itself.
The
Australian Securities Exchange as it is now known
resulted from the merger of the Australian Stock
Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in December
2006.
The
biggest stocks traded on the ASX, in terms of
their market capitalization, include BHP Billiton,
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Telstra Corporation,
Rio Tinto, National Australia Bank and Australia
and New Zealand Banking Group. As at 31-Dec-2006
the three largest sectors by market cap were financial
services (34%), commodities (20%) and listed property
trusts (10%).
The
major market index is the S&P/ASX 200, an
index made up of the top 200 shares in the ASX.
This supplanted the previously significant All
Ordinaries index, which still runs parallel to
the S&P ASX 200. Both are commonly quoted
together. Other indices for the bigger stocks
are the S&P/ASX 100 and S&P/ASX 50.
The
ASX is a public company, and its own shares are
traded on the ASX. However, the corporation's
charter restricts maximum individual holdings
to a small fraction of the company.
While
the ASX regulates other listed companies listed
on the ASX, it cannot regulate itself, and is
regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments
Commission (ASIC).
The
current managing director Robert Elstone was appointed
in July 2006. Prior to the merger of ASX with
the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE), Robert Elstone
was the CEO of the SFE. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
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Securities Exchange
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