Africa’s biggest stock market, the JSE, celebrated its 119th anniversary on Wednesday.
The exchange was born in a humble miner’s tent in 1887, a mere year after the gold rush hit the Witwatersrand. It created an economic crucible in an infant Johannesburg and, in the 119 years since then, this has not changed, despite constantly evolving to remain relevant to stakeholders.
“Although over a century old, the JSE is still going strong. Today, the JSE’s total market capitalisation is sitting at over R4,8-trillion with approximately 390 companies listed. Five years ago, it was R1,7-trillion and yet we had 542 companies listed,” said Russell Loubser, CEO of the JSE.
“That’s a clear indication that focusing only on the number of listings and delistings an exchange experiences is a mistake when measuring any bourse’s well-being. The market capitalisation and the nature and make-up of the companies on the exchange also need to be considered to ensure we are providing quality issuers to our investors,” he said.
Ranked among the top 20 exchanges worldwide in terms of market capitalisation, the past 10 years have seen the JSE work hard at bringing innovative products and services to the market in a bid to increase liquidity on the exchange and remain relevant to investors and issuers.
Recent innovations include offering a 70% discount on data for retail investors from January 1 next year and a series of industry showcases aimed at providing retail investors, brokers and analysts with the opportunity to come to a better understanding of the companies listed on the main board and AltX.
The exchange said that further investor educationals on evaluating mining companies will also be initiated. The JSE’s efforts at cultivating a new retail investor base among the younger generation are also bearing fruit.
“The JSE Liberty Life Investment Challenge was a resounding success this year with a total of 7 048 school learners and 1 232 university students entering the challenge this year in comparison to last years figures of 6 620 and 236 respectively,” the JSE added.
As well as a vibrant equity market, including Exchange Traded Funds and warrants, the JSE offers a Financial Derivatives market, which is the fourth largest in the world in single stock futures, an Agricultural Products market, and AltX, an emerging-companies market that replaces the old Venture Capital and Development Capital boards.
In three years, AltX has grown from nothing to 27 listings with a market cap of R5,8-billion. The fifth market, the interest-rate exchange called Yield-X, is the first market in the world for trading both the cash spot bond (secondary trading) as well as the interest-rate derivative products on one trading platform.
“Unlike the NYSE [New York Stock Exchange], which only recently announced its intention to move to an electronic trading platform, our trading environment has been totally electronic since 1996 and as far as we can ascertain, we are the only exchange not to have experienced a failed trade since the introduction of Strate, our electronic settlement system, in 1999,” continued Loubser.
“All of these efforts and innovations have increased the value of this exchange to the South African economy and our continent. After 119 years the JSE has become an even more vibrant part of South Africa’s everyday workings and future,” concluded Loubser. — I-Net Bridge