/ 7 November 2007

JSE celebrates 120 years of investment

The JSE, ranked among the top 20 exchanges worldwide in terms of market capitalisation, will celebrate its 120th birthday on Thursday, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

”Today [Wednesday], the JSE’s total market capitalisation is over R6-trillion with approximately 400 companies listed. Our emphasis in the last 10 years has been to focus on ensuring that we have quality issuers to offer both local investors and an increasingly international market,” said Russell Loubser, CEO of the JSE.

Recent years have seen investors extending their interest beyond the vibrant equity market. Today, derivatives trading on the JSE accounts for more than 20% of the JSE’s revenue compared with less than 10% six years ago.

This year also saw the JSE’s financial derivatives market overtake its Indian counterpart in operating the largest single stock futures market in the world by volume.

The JSE’s other markets were all created in the past 10 years to meet the needs of specific investors. The oldest of these is the agricultural products market, which is the most active on the continent.

AltX, the equities market for small to medium businesses, was created out of a need for smaller quality companies and investors interested in newly listed businesses.

Established in 2005, Yield-X, the JSE’s interest-rate exchange, is the youngest of its markets and the first of its kind in the world for trading both the cash spot bond as well as interest-rate derivative products on one trading platform.

This year, currency futures were launched by the JSE, making it possible for individuals to trade in these futures through a regulated exchange for the first time.

As part of its continued efforts to educate investors, the JSE runs a series of investor showcases aimed at providing retail investors, brokers and analysts with information about the companies listed on the main board and AltX. — Sapa