Canadian Stock Market
- Details
- Category: Stock Market
A stock market or equity market is a public (a loose network of economic transactions, not a physical facility or discrete) entity for the trading of company stock (shares) and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately. The Canadian stock market is one of the most important sources for companies to raise money. This allows businesses to be publicly traded, or raise additional capital for expansion by selling shares of ownership of the company in a public market. The liquidity that an exchange provides affords investors the ability to quickly and easily sell securities. This is an attractive feature of investing in stocks, compared to other less liquid investments such as real estate.
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the eighth 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. 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.
The exchange is home to all of Canada's Big Five commercial banks, including: 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 of Canada and Bank of Montreal alongside CIBC and Toronto-Dominion Bank in 1998, which were seen as stopping competition by the then Finance Minister Paul Martin.
