2008-02-07

History of BSE

History of BSE :

Bombay Stock Exchange is one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world with a history of around 133 years ( where as London Stock Exchange being the oldest with a history of over 300 years ). BSE is also the biggest stock exchange in the world in terms of number of companies listed with around 4,800 listed as of August 2007. Its market capitalisation is over 1.6 trillion USD. It is also the first exchange in the country to be granted permanent recognition under the Securities Contract Regulation Act, 1956.
BSE was established in 1875. The place where BSE is located is aptly called as Dalal street (similar to wall street) and is located in central Mumbai. Although now all the transactions are electronic, it wasn't like this always. BSE is traced back to those days where a group of brokers used to trade under the shade of banyan trees. the number of brokers increased, they had to shift from place to place, and wherever they went, through sheer habit, they overflowed in to the streets. At last, in 1874, found a permanent place, and one that they could, quite literally, call their own.




Although they had a permanent place now, they still followed the old system of OUTCRY method of trading.Here in this system the entire floor was divided into groups of different stocks where brokers used to shout out their bids. There was absolute chaos in this system. In the adjacent picture you can see the number of brokers that are being fit into this small hall. All this changed in 1995, when OUTCRY system was replaced by totally automated trading called as BSE Online trading (BOLT). This system is more efficient, faster and transparent than the previous system.


BSE SENSEX : (index)
The BSE SENSEX (also known as the BSE 30 index) is a value-weighted index composed of thirty scrips, with the base value at April 1979 = 100. The set of companies which make up the index has been changed only a few times in the last twenty years. These companies account for around one-fifth of the market capitalization of the BSE.
As i write this blog, the index is around 17.5k.

BSE now :

Important milestones:
The index crossed 1000 points in 1990.
2000,3000,4000 in1992.
5000 in 1999.
6000 in 2000.
7 - 9k in 2005.
10-14k in 2006.
15 -20k in 2007.




Thus BSE trading is not gambling (as is the misconception), but is just another business with a rich history to look into!!!

3 comments:

Ritesh. P said...

That was really an informative topic on the Bombay Stock Exchange.....

Mohan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mohan said...

quite informative....thanks...trading is not a gamble indeed...it does indeed have a rich history to look into and a "rich" future to look forward to....i hope.