NYSE Shares Jump in Debut

The New York Stock Exchange began life as a publicly traded company Wednesday with a bang as its stock surged 25% in its market debut.

The day marked the end of the exchange’s 213-year history as a member-owned club and the start of its own membership in the red-hot publicly traded exchange sector, with its sights set firmly on growth through acquisitions and new products.

The NYSE sealed its purchase of electronic rival Archipelago Holdings Inc. on Tuesday and joined the two into the new NYSE Group Inc., designed to haul the exchange into the electronic age.

Interest in NYSE shares ran high from the start, mirroring other strong openings for exchanges going public.

The stock rose to $80, up from Archipelago’s closing price of $64.25 on Tuesday.

“The floor reaction was great. You could hardly hear the bell,” NYSE Chief Executive John Thain told reporters after ringing the bell to mark the start of trading.

But the ringing of promotional NYSE hand bells was not quite enough to drown out a few cries of “boo” from the trading floor. Some uncertainty overhangs the long-term future of an auction system run by traders as cheaper electronic trading increasingly takes over.

Jamie Selway, managing director at White Cap Trading, attributed the share hike to a lack of liquidity in the stock and high retail interest. “It’s the granddaddy of all exchanges, and you can infer there’s going to be a lot of retail interest,” he said.