JSE

JSE - Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)

About the Johannesburg Stock Exchange :

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange lists more than 400 companies and has market capitalization of over $182 billion, making it the largest exchange in Africa and among the top ten largest in the world. The exchange trades shares for a wide variety of industries, with the largest portion of market capitalization coming from the mining industry. The JSE just recently became a publicly held company in July or 2005.
The JSE lists shares on two separate markets, the Mainboard and AltX. The requirements for listing on the Mainboard are strict, while the AltX lists smaller companies who fail to meet the Mainboard criteria. As a new branch of the JSE, AltX companies currently make up a very small portion of JSE listings.

The exchange is fully electronic, using the JET System (Johannesburg Equities Trading). This is an order-based system, whereby trades are automatically executed when matching buy and sell prices are found.


JSE - History of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange :

In 1886, gold was discovered in the South African mountain range, Witwatersrand. The mining of this gold led to the development of financial institutions, which created the need for a stock exchange. Therefore, in 1887 Benjamin Woollan created the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The location of this exchange moved many times throughout the years as it grew, settling at its current location in 2000.
Many changes began to occur at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1995. Historically, only South African individual citizens were allowed to be stockbrokers on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. This rule was changed, allowing foreigners and corporations to trade on the exchange. The South African Institute of Stockbrokers was created to regulate all stockbrokers. In 1996, the JSE eliminated its open outcry system and closed its trading floor, converting to a fully electronic system. In 2003, the second division of stock listings, AltX was created to help small black-owned businesses list shares.

The exchange incorporated on July 1, 2005, but remains unlisted.