Primary equities market

Toronto Stock Exchange

Located in Toronto, Canada's largest city, the TSX is the country's principal exchange and carries the Canadian listings for many Fortune 500 companies. The TSX unofficially began in 1852 when a group of businessmen gathered together to form an Association of brokers. No official documentation of them actively trading is recorded. The Toronto Stock Exchange was officially established in 1861 when a resolution was passed at the Masonic Hall and the exchange was instituted.

 

Trading began slowly with daily half hour sessions where a limited number of trades were executed. Now the TSX is considered as one of the three largest exchanges in North America was the first to introduce many innovations to the world of stock trading. The world's first Computer Assisted Trading System (CATS) was introduced in 1977 by the TSX. It was also the first to introduce decimal trading in 1996. In 1997 the Toronto Stock Exchange was North America's first exchange to switch all of its operations entirely to a virtual environment when it closed its trading floors. In 2000 the Toronto Stock Exchange became a publicly traded company and declared its first quarterly dividend as such in January of 2003.

 

Primary equity index

S&P/TSX composite

This index is a capitalization weighted index designed to measure market activity of stocks listed on the TSX. The index was developed with a base level of 1000 as of 1975. The companies in this index comprise about 71 percent of market capitalization for all Canadian-based companies listed on the TSX.

 

 

The S&P/TSX Composite was up 4.0 percent in 2012. In 2013, the index advanced in 10 of 12 months, declining in June and August. The index advanced in all four quarters, gaining 29.6 percent for the year. In 2014, the index added 7.4 percent. In 2015, the index has declined three of six months. It lost 3.1 percent in June.