THE Johannesburg bourse (JSE) expects to share a trading platform with the London Stock Exchange by the second half of this year if talks between the two continue to go well. JSE executive president Russell Loubser said parallel negotiations with the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX) had started, after attempts to merge the two were abandoned in late 1999. ”If the talks succeed you could find the LSE and the JSE sharing one trading platform,” he said. ”We are hopeful that the deal will be concluded in the first half of this year, with implementation in the second half.” The move is aimed at boosting liquidity on Africa’s biggest bourse, whose capitalisation Loubser put at R1.7 trillion from 645 counters, and stem a tide of offshore listings. – Reuters