The document discusses stock exchanges and provides information about some Canadian stock exchanges. It focuses on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) as the largest stock exchange in Canada. The TSX has over 1,500 listed companies with a total market capitalization of over $1.9 trillion Canadian dollars. It is a primary listing for major Canadian banks and companies in key industries like mining and energy. However, the TSX has underperformed in 2013 compared to US exchanges due to weakness in Canadian resource stocks.

1. By – Kartikay Khetarpal
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2.  A stock exchange is an institution, organization
or association that serves as a market for trading
financial instruments such as stocks, bonds and
their related derivatives. Most modern stock
exchanges, like NYSE Euronext, have both a
trading floor and an electronic trading system.
 Exchanges make money in several different
areas. Listings, sales, and selling market
statistics are some of the various ways that they
produce revenue.

3.  Electronic trading has dramatically reduced the
cost of entry into this market. Several exchanges
have developed in recent years such as BATS
Exchange out of Kansas City. This new
competition have reduced the spread of
purchases and sales across the market.
 Increasingly, exchange owners and operators are
getting themselves listed on their own
exchanges. This is the case with companies
like NYSE Euronext, Deutsche Boerse
AG, NASDAQ OMX Group and the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange.

4.  CNQ - Canada's new stock exchange for trading the equity
securities of emerging companies.
 ICE Futures Canada - Incorporates the Winnipeg
Commodity Exchange.
 Montreal Exchange (Bourse de Montréal) - Co-owner of
the Boston Options Exchange.
 NASDAQ Canada
 NGX (Natural Gas Exchange) - North America's largest
physical clearing and settlement facility. Wholly owned by
TSX Group.
 Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) - Incorporates TSX Venture
Exchange, TSX Markets and Natural Gas Exchange (NGX).

6.  Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX, formerly TSE) is
the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third
largest in North America and the seventh largest
in the world by market capitalization. Based in
Canada's largest city, Toronto, it is owned by and
operated as a subsidiary of the TMX Group for
the trading of senior equities. A broad range of
businesses from Canada, the United States,
Europe, and other countries are represented on
the exchange.

7.  In addition to conventional securities, the
exchange lists various exchange-traded
funds, split share corporations, income trusts
and investment funds. The Toronto Stock
Exchange is the leader in the mining and oil &
gas sector; more mining and oil & gas companies
are listed on Toronto Stock Exchange than any
other exchange in the world.
 Toronto Stock Exchange has 1,577 listed
companies with a combined market capitalization
of CAD $1,989,562,971,807.

8.  The exchange is home to all of Canada's Big
Five commercial banks—Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce (CIBC), Bank of Montreal, Bank of
Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada and the
Toronto-Dominion Bank—making the exchange
the centre for banking in the country.
 This was seen as being most evident during the
proposed mergers of Royal Bank with Bank of
Montreal, and CIBC with the Toronto-Dominion
Bank in 1998. Then Finance Minister Paul
Martin blocked the mergers to preserve
competition.

9.  The exchange is the primary listing for several
energy companies including; Cameco
Corporation, Canadian Natural Resources
Ltd., Canadian Oil Sands Trust, EnCana
Corporation, Husky Energy Inc., Imperial Oil
Ltd. and Nexen Inc. all within the top 40
companies listed in on the exchange.
 Many of the large companies listed on the TSX,
especially those on the S&P/TSX 60 index, have
a secondary listing on an American exchange
such as the New York Stock Exchange.

10.  It’s been a dismal year so far for Canada’s flagship
Toronto Stock Exchange.
 While U.S. equities have powered ahead, the market’s
benchmark index trails behind badly, reflecting
weakness in the resource sectors that make up a big
chunk of the Canadian market.
 For the first half of 2013, the S&P/TSX Composite
index lost 2.5%. By comparison, the widely watched
barometer of U.S. corporate health, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average, rallied nearly 14%, and broader
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Nasdaq
Composite Index both gained almost 13%.

11.  The first week of the second half hasn’t provided much
solace–the S&P/TSX Composite was on track for a small
weekly loss as of midday Friday.
 Tumbling mining stocks—especially gold issues–and
lackluster energy shares issues have sideswiped the
benchmark. Toronto’s gold and mining subgroups were
down a whopping 43% and 30%, respectively, in the first
half. The energy group—home to the big oil and gas
producers in Alberta’s oil patch—fell 2% despite rising oil
prices, amid concerns the proposed Keystone XL pipeline
won’t win U.S. approval.
 Even the once-stalwart financials are struggling, up a mere
3% only because Canadian life insurance stocks
outperformed Canada’s once-mighty banks.