How To Read Stock Charts

Heres a quick and easy guide on how to read the stock sections in the business section in the newspaper.

• Equities on Canadian exchanges are shown in decimals. NYSE, Amex, Nasdaq, and Unlisted stocks closing less than $5 are shown in decilmals, those closing at more than $5 are shown in fractions.
• Stocks in bold type have closed at least 5% higher or lower than the previous board lot closing price. Stocks must close at a minimum $1 and trade at least 500 shares to qualify.
• Underlined stocks have traded 500% or more above thioer 60-day average daily volume.
• 1. Up/down arrows indicate a new 52-week high or low in the day's trading.
• 2. 52 week high/low: Highest and lowest inter-day price reached in the previous 52 weeks.
• 3. Stock: The names have been abbreviated.
• 4. Ticker: Basic trading symbol for primary issues (usually common)
• 5. Dividend: Indicated annual rate. Intrest given to you as a share holder.
• 6. Yield %: Annual dividend rate or amount paid in past 12 months as a percentageof closing price in past 12 months
• 7. P/E: Price earnings ratio, closing price dividend by earning per share in past 12 months. Figures reported in US$ converted to C$.
• 8. Volume: Number of shares traded in 00s; nt- no-trade; z-odd lot; e- exact number of shares
• 9. High/ask: Highest inter-day trading price or last asking price if no trade are done. "..." will be shown if there is no asking price shown.
• 10. Low/bid: Lowest inter-day trasding price or last bid price if there are no trades. "..." will be shown if there is no bid price shown.
• 11. Close/last: Closing price or last board lot closing price in the past 12 months. "..." will be shown if theres is no last closing price.
• 12. Net change: Change between board lot closing price and previous board lot closing price.
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