Australian stock market

The Australian stock market is focused on five major stock exchanges.

Australia Pacific Exchange (APX)

Australia Pacific Exchange is a small stock exchange on the Australian stock market founded in 1997. It started out as an exempt market, which means that the Australian government exempted it from the licensing that is normally required for a financial market, and it operated by Austock. Today, the present form of the Australia Pacific Exchange constitutes a licensed stock exchange and has been so since August 2004 (trading commenced in January 2005).

The first listing on the Australia Pacific Exchange was Sigma Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer that needed to raise capital but where the owners were unwilling to give up control over the company and therefore reluctant to use the Australian Stock Exchange. 

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)

The Australian Securities Exchange is the major stock exchange on the Australian stock market and was created in the 19th century in the form of separate state-based exchanges. Six separate exchanges were established in the state capitals during the last decades of the 1800s. The first one was founded in Melbourne in 1861, and it was soon to be followed by Sydney (1871), Hobart (1882), Brisbane (1884), Adelaide (1887) and finally Perth (1889). There was also an exchange in Launceston that merged with the Hobart exchange.

At the end of 2004, the exchange had grown into the 8th biggest equity market in the world (on free float basis) and this part of the Australian stock market made up over 2% of the MSCI World index.

In 2006, the name was changed from Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) to Securities Exchange (ASX). The Australian Securities Exchange is a public company where the charter limits maximum individual holdings to a small fraction of the entire company. The Australian Securities Exchange is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Bendigo Stock Exchange (BSX)

The Bendigo Stock Exchange (abbreviated BSX) is a small exchange on the Australian stock market. It focuses on small and medium sized businesses and provides unusually low listing fees. You can for instance find community-based businesses listed here. At the Bendigo Stock Exchange, all trade is carried out electronically by an order-matching system that works in strict price time order. In 2005, the Bendigo Stock Exchange was acquired by the National Stock Exchange of Australia (formerly known as the Newcastle Stock Exchange).  

The Bendigo Stock Exchange was established in 1860 under the name Sandhurst Mining Exchange (the settlement that would eventually turn into the city of Bendigo was called Sandhurst during this period). The original intent was to list mining companies active in the goldfields the surrounded the Bendigo area. Business boomed in this part of Australia during the 1870s and Melbourne investors travelled to the exchange in special trains to buy shares. By November 1871, this little corner of the Australian stock market has over 1300 listed companies and the total capitalization had reached £10,000,000.

If you found this page useful please consider linking to it from your website or blog.