Colombo Stock Exchange

The Colombo Stock Exchange is the pivotal stock exchange of Sri Lanka. This is a fully automated Stock Exchange. Since 1995 it had its headquarters in the World Trade Center. It branches out in Kandy, Matara and Kurunegala. Share trading took birth in Sri Lanka with Colombo Brokers Association in 1896. The Colombo Stock Exchange was established formally in 1985. It has 15 members are all of them have licenses with the help of which they can operate as stockbrokers. The Colombo Stock Exchange was the first exchange in the South Asian Region and the 52nd exchange of the World which was elected as a member of the World Federation of Exchanges (FIBV) in October 1998. The Colombo Stock Market was one of the creating members of the South Asian Federation of Exchanges(SAFE). By 2005 about 243 companies were listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It reached a market capitalization of US $4.9 billion, which are about 245 of the Gross Domestic Product of the country.

Technology Used by the Colombo Stock Exchange:

The Central Depository System:

This was started in 1991

accompanied with the electronic clearing and settlement system for share transactions.

Automated Trading System: This system started in 1997 with the

help of which the system became fully automated.

Debt Securities Trading System:

trading in fixed income securities.

This system is introduced for

Foreign Investors participating in the Colombo Stock Exchange:

The Civil War ended with the ceasefire agreement signed by the Sri Lankan government. After this there was a huge surge in the volume of foreign investment in the Colombo Stock Exchange. The foreign investors interpret the Colombo Stock Exchange as highly undervalued- the reason of this rush in foreign investments. The foreign investors have no restriction on their participation in the Colombo Stock Exchange, few companies being the exception to the rule. Investments in shares as well as the repatriation of the income earned from such investments are carried out through the Share Investments External Rupee Accounts (SIERA) opened in the licensed commercial banks.

BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE (BSE):

Bombay Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. What is now popularly known as the BSE was established as The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association in 1875. Over the past 135 years, BSE has facilitated the growth of the Indian corporate sector by providing it with an efficient capital raising platform. Today, BSE is the worlds number 1 exchange in the world in terms of the number of listed companies (over 4900). It is the worlds 5th most active in terms of number of transactions handled through its electronic trading system. And it is in the top ten of global exchanges in terms of the market capitalization of its listed companies (as of December 31 2009). The companies listed on BSE command a total market capitalization of USD Trillion 1.28 as of Feb 210. BSE is the first exchange in India and the second in the world to obtain an ISO 9001:2000 Certification. It is also the first Exchange in the country and second in the world to receive Information Security Management System Standard BS 7799-2-2002 certification for its BSE On-Line trading system (BOLT). The BSE Index, SENSEX, is Indias first and most popular Stock Market benchmark index. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) on SENSEX, are listed on BSE and in Hong Kong. Futures and options on the index are also traded at BSE. The oldest stock exchange in Asia (established in 1875) and the first in the country to be granted permanent recognition under the Securities Contract Regulation Act, 1956, Bombay Stock Exchange Limited (BSE) has had an interesting rise to prominence over the past 133 years. While BSE is now synonymous with Dalal Street, it was not always so. The first venues of the earliest stock broker meetings in the 1850s were in rather natural environs under banyan trees- in front of the Town Hall, where Horniman Circle is now situated. A decade later, the brokers moved their venue to another set of foliage, this time under banyan trees at the junction of Meadows Street and what is now called Mahatma Gandhi Road.

In 2002, the name The Stock Exchange, Mumbai was changed to Bombay Stock Exchange. Subsequently on August 19, 2005, the exchange turned into a corporate entity from an Association of Persons (AoP) and renamed as Bombay Stock Exchange Limited. BSE, which had introduced securities trading in India, replaced its open outcry system of trading in 1995, with the totally automated trading through the BSE Online trading (BOLT) system. The BOLT network was expanded nationwide in 1997.