NZX

NZX - New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX)

About the New Zealand Stock Exchange :

The New Zealand Exchange (NZX) is based in Wellington, New Zealand. It consists of three main markets :

• New Zealand Alternative Market (NZAX)

• New Zealand Stock Market (NZSX)

• New Zealand Debt Market (NZDX).

The NZAX is the newest equities market that holds fast-growing, developing companies, and companies with non-traditional structures, whereas the NZSX or the main board is the NZX's premier equity market.

The NZDX is New Zealand's market for trading debt securities, which ranges from corporate and government bonds to fixed income securities. It also has the NZFOZ, which includes futures and options contracts.

The NZX is responsible for three subsidiary companies: Smartshares, Link Market Services and Agri-Fax. The NZX is New Zealand's only securities exchange. It is also responsible for regulating and surveying the country's capital markets. On June 24, 1991 the NZX incorporated a computerized trading system and in 1999 they updated the system to the FASTER system.

NZX - History of the New Zealand Stock Exchange :

The NZX began as the New Zealand Stock Exchange during the Gold Rush of the 1870s. During this period the gold mines Auckland, Thames, Dunedin, and Reefton served as the country's financial centres. Although these exchanges were rather basic, the Auckland Sharebrokers' Association was formed in1872. In 1908 they began compulsory licensing for share brokers and in 1915, started organizing stock exchanges.

Over the next few decades, as the New Zealand economy developed, the stock market grew in size and popularity. In 1957, however, the Labour government initiated a Black Budget, which drove many investors to the Australian Stock Market. A dividend tax also aided the scare and only in 1960 when the tax was reversed, did the market fully recover.

In 1974, all the regional stock exchanges merged to form the New Zealand Stock Exchange. A little more than a decade later, on Tuesday October 20, 1987, the stock market crashed. In a response to the crash, the exchange underwent various changes such the addition of a Board of Directors and a Market Surveillance Panel.

On October 16, 2002, the New Zealand Stock Exchange's members voted in favour of a demutualisation proposal, which resulted in it becoming a limited liability company. In May of 2003 the New Zealand Stock Exchange officially became the New Zealand Exchange Limited.