The 17 most valuable stock exchanges in the world

Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji

Stock markets globally are worth more than $70 trillion (£52.5 trillion), with investors buying and selling enormous values of shares every day in locations from Papua New Guinea all the way to Barbados. Some markets however, are worth an awful lot more than others.

We have used data from the World Federation of Exchanges to compile the 17 exchanges globally that have a market capitalisation of over $1 trillion, making them the most valuable exchanges in the world. All data is from July 2016.

Understandably, well-known markets like the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and London Stock Exchange rank among the most valuable exchanges, while several in China and other emerging markets also feature.

Check out the list below.

17. Johannesburg Stock Exchange — $1.07 trillion. Johannesburg entered the $1 trillion club for the first time in July, increasing in value from $997 billion. Listed firms on the JSE include Anglo American and financial services firm Investec.

16. NASDAQ Nordic Exchanges — $1.28 trillion. NASDAQ Nordic operates a series of exchanges in northern Europe, including the Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki exchanges. Volvo and clothing giant H&M are both listed on NASDAQ’s Nordic exchanges.

15. Australian Securities Exchange — $1.31 trillion. The biggest stock market in Oceania, the ASX features many huge mining firms, including giant Aussie firm BHP Billiton.

14. Korea Exchange — $1.35 trillion. Korea Exchange and its main constituent, the KOSPI, includes companies like tech giant Samsung, and car firm Kia. It is based out of South Korea’s capital, Seoul.

13. SIX Swiss Exchange — $1.46 trillion. Swiss exchange group SIX hosts two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical firms, Roche and Novartis, as well as food and drink giant Nestle.

12. National Stock Exchange of India — $1.6 trillion. One of two Indian stock exchanges to feature on this list, worth just less than its counterpart the Bombay Stock Exchange. State Bank of India is one of the most prominent companies to feature.

11. Bombay Stock Exchange — $1.63 trillion. India’s biggest exchange is based in Mumbai, and counts India’s most well-known international brand, Tata Motors, as a constituent.

10. Deutsche Boerse — $1.65 trillion. Deutsche Boerse group contains Germany’s prime index, the DAX 30, featuring many of Europe’s biggest companies, including Deutsche Bank and Siemens. It is set to merge with the London Stock Exchange.

9. TMX Group — $1.93 trillion. TMX, the biggest exchange group in Canada, is based in Toronto. One of its constituents, the Toronto Stock Exchange is home to all five of Canada’s largest banks.

8. Hong Kong Stock Exchange — $3.1 trillion. Hong Kong has a reputation as one of the globe’s most prominent financial centres, so it is unsurprising that its key stock exchange is worth more than $3 trillion.

7. Shenzhen Stock Exchange — $3.15 trillion. Despite being worth $3.15 trillion, the SSE, located in the south-eastern city of Shenzen, is only China’s second largest exchange.

6. Euronext — $3.42 trillion. Euronext group, headquartered in Amsterdam, holds many of Europe’s most prominent national indexes under its auspices. This includes France’s CAC 40, Belgium’s BEL 20, and the PSI 20, Portugal’s blue-chip bourse.

5. London Stock Exchange — $3.58 trillion. Probably the most famous exchange in Europe, the London Stock Exchange, in the heart of the City, includes the blue-chip FTSE 100, the smaller, but still significant FTSE 250, and the AIM index of small cap stocks.

4. Shanghai Stock Exchange — $3.87 trillion. China’s largest stock exchange, based in the country’s financial centre, Shanghai, counts brewer Tsingtao, Air China, and Sinopec as constituents.

3. Japan Exchange Group — $4.98 trillion. The biggest exchange outside of the USA, the Japan Exchange Group control Japan’s world famous Nikkei 225, the index often cited as the stock bellwether for the entirety of Asia. Consumer goods firms like Nikon, Olympus, and Konica are some of the most famous companies listed by the JEG.

2. NASDAQ — $7.51 trillion. Second, but second by a long way, is the NASDAQ. Short for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, the New York-based exchange includes eBay, Kraft, and Microsoft on its benchmark Nasdaq 100 index.

1. New York Stock Exchange — $18.83 trillion. The NYSE’s value is not only the highest on earth, but is worth almost three times as much as its nearest competitor, the NASDAQ. Companies listed include many of the world’s largest like Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.