Stock Market

The PhilippinE Stock exchange, Inc. ("PSE" or the "Exchange") is a private organization created to provide and maintain a fair, efficient, transparent and orderly market for the purchase and sale of stocks and other securities. It was formed out of the merger of the country's two former stock exchanges, the Manila Stock Exchange (MSE), established on 8 August 1927, and the Makati Stock Exchange (MkSE), created on 27 May 1963. The two bourses were considered as separate entities for nearly 30 years, despite basically trading the same listed issues, until they merged into the present-day PSE on 23 December 1992 to achieve uniform pricing of stocks and eliminate arbitrage transactions.

Initially established as a non-stock, member-governed organization, the PSE has since then reorganized and transformed into a shareholder-based, revenue-generating corporation following the enactment of the Securities Regulation Code of 2000. Along with this rebirth came the separation of the Exchange's ownership and trading rights, which opened the doors for the entry of new market participants. On 15 December 2003, PSE shares were listed by way of introduction.

Since its unification up until July 2010, the PSE maintained two trading floors: one at the PSE Centre in Pasig City and another at the PSE Plaza in Makati City. These two trading floors were linked electronically to enable brokers and traders to execute orders and clear transactions within the day, and maintain a "one-price, one market" Exchange. In July 2010, however, the PSE relocated its offices from Ortigas Center in Pasig to Tower One in Makati. The move, which unifies the PSE physically, aims to increase the efficiency of the Exchange's operations and reduce its operational costs. The unified office is intended as a first step before the PSE moves to a permanent headquarters at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig by 2014. The PSE also switched to the New Trading System (NTS) in July, finally replacing the Maktrade system that dates back to the unification of the trading operations of the Manila and Makati stock exchanges 15 years ago. Under the NTS, the PSE will be able to offer new prodiucts like derivatives and commodity trading.

Presently, the PSE is the country's only stock exchange with 250 listed firms and 132 active trading participants. Companies are listed at the PSE on the First Board, the Second Board or the Small and Medium Enterprises Board. Listed issues are then classified into one of six sectors: Financials, Holding Firms, Industrial, Mining and Oil, Property, and the Services Sector.The main barometer of stock price movements is measured by the PSE Index (PSEi).

For more information on the stock exchange, please visit the PSE website at www.pse.com.ph.