Prague Stock Exchange turns 150

Trading at the then-called Prague Stock Exchange for Goods and Securities started on April 17, 1871 - exactly 150 years ago.

After the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Prage Stock Exchange fully focused on securities. It has experienced a period of great prosperity - also thanks to support from the state.

However, World War II marked the end of trading - strengthened by the communist coup in February 1948. In April that year, the Ministry of Finance ordered that the stock exchange be permanently closed and all its property confiscated.

Today's PSE was established in November 1992 with the first issues of shares being traded in April 1993. However, the actual start of trading is considered to be June 1993, when 955 shares from the first wave of so-called coupon privatization launched on the market.

The main PSE index is called PX. Today, the stock exchange is located in the Stock Exchange Palace in Rybná Street in Prague. Since 2008, the majority shareholder has been the Wiener Börse which now holds 55.543% of shares.

Last year, the PSE was hit by the pandemic - at first, the stock market crashed. However, by mid-March this year, it has rebounded to the strongest position since before the pandemic. The total volume of shares traded last year was 125.3 billion crowns - compared to 108.8 billion in 2019.