Stock ticker suffix by exchange
Most financial data APIs identify a security by combining a local symbol with an
exchange-specific suffix. Yahoo Finance, for example, returns no data for BP
on its own but works for BP.L, because the .L suffix tells it to look on the
London Stock Exchange. This reference maps exchange names, countries, and ISO
10383 MIC codes to the suffix you need.
How it works
Yahoo Finance assigns each non-US exchange a short dotted suffix that is appended
to the bare ticker. The mapping is provider-specific: the London Stock Exchange
is .L on Yahoo but LN on Bloomberg. US exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ, NYSE
American) are the default and carry no suffix on Yahoo. The MIC column shows the
ISO 10383 Market Identifier Code, a standard four-letter identifier used across
professional trade-reporting and many data feeds when a dotted suffix is not
available.
To build a usable symbol: take the local ticker exactly as it trades (preserving
leading zeros on Asian numeric symbols, for example 0700.HK), then append the
suffix from the matching row.
Common suffixes and their exchanges
| Suffix | Exchange | Country |
|---|---|---|
| .L | London Stock Exchange | United Kingdom |
| .TO | Toronto Stock Exchange | Canada |
| .AX | ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) | Australia |
| .HK | Hong Kong Stock Exchange | Hong Kong |
| .T | Tokyo Stock Exchange | Japan |
| .PA | Euronext Paris | France |
| .AS | Euronext Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| .DE | Xetra / Frankfurt | Germany |
| .STO | Nasdaq Stockholm | Sweden |
| .NS | National Stock Exchange | India |
| .BO | Bombay Stock Exchange | India |
| .SW | SIX Swiss Exchange | Switzerland |
Why US tickers have no suffix
Yahoo Finance treats all US exchanges as the default namespace. A ticker like AAPL or GE with no suffix is resolved to the primary US listing. This means that when you are working with a non-US security and omit the suffix, Yahoo Finance will either return no data or — more dangerously — silently return data for a completely different US-listed security that happens to share the same letters. Always append the correct suffix for any non-US security to avoid this.
Differences between data providers
Yahoo Finance suffixes are specific to Yahoo’s own API and website. Bloomberg Terminal uses a different notation (for example BP/ LN or BP LN Equity), Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters) uses another, and many institutional data vendors use raw MIC codes. If you are writing code that queries multiple providers, maintain a separate suffix mapping per provider rather than trying to translate between them algorithmically — the mappings are not systematic enough for that to work reliably.
Handling dual-listed stocks
Many large companies are listed on more than one exchange. A stock that trades in both London and New York will have two valid Yahoo Finance symbols: one with .L and one with no suffix. These are the same company but they trade in different currencies, at different prices reflecting the exchange rate, and may have different share classes depending on the listing. Combining price data from both without normalising for currency will produce nonsense. Pick one listing as your canonical source for price data.
Tips and examples
- Asian numeric tickers keep their full digit string: Toyota is
7203.T, not simply7203. - India splits into NSE (
.NS) and BSE (.BO), and the same stock exists on both — they trade in INR but may diverge slightly intraday. - Euronext venues each have their own suffix (
.PA,.AS,.BR,.LS) even though they share a trading platform. - When a suffix returns nothing, double-check that the security is actually listed on that exchange — dual-listed shares may need a different venue.
- Preferred shares and warrants often carry an additional letter after the numeric ticker; check the local exchange’s symbol conventions if the base ticker returns unexpected results.