New York Stock Exchange going completely decimal

The New York Stock Exchange is to trade all its stocks in decimals from Monday.

Nearly 3,400 stocks that until now have been traded in halves, quarters, eighths and 16ths are due to be switched when trading begins.

Exchange officals aren't too nervous as they've had some practice with 159 issues already trading in decimals as part of a pilot programme that began last summer.

"The decimal capability is already embedded in the exchange systems," said Bob Britz, NYSE's executive vice president of market operations, technology and market data.

The same change is scheduled on the smaller American Stock Exchange, which also launched a pilot programme last summer. An estimated 1,500 stocks and options will be affected there.

But the switchover won't involve all US stocks, at least not yet.

The Nasdaq Stock Market, home to more than 4,600 companies, including Intel and Microsoft, plans to start converting its trading to decimals in March and finish by April 9, the deadline set by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC ordered the shift to decimalisation on the theory it would make stock prices easier for investors to understand, and potentially open stock bidding and selling to more competition.

Fractions had been used to trade stocks for more than 200 years, a legacy of Spanish traders, whose currency was in increments of eighths.

In a decimal system, a stock selling for $16 3/8 a share is priced at $16.38. Shares that were priced at $10 11/16 would be listed at $10.69.