JSE Hits Recrod Daily Trading Volumes - $2.1 Bln in Value as the Venue Continues to Evolve

October has become a vibrant month, till date, for financial markets participants as a pick-up in volatility has accelerated trading volumes across the board. South Africa’s main financial trading venue, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has reported record trading volumes in its equities division on the 16th of October.

The venue was shy of executing 400,000 contracts as global markets saw a spike in activity. The move signifies the JSE’s developments in its markets infrastructure as it continues to dominate Africa’s financial trading environment as the preferred destination for overseas investment.

The JSE reported that it executed a record number of equity trades on the 16th of October. The firm saw a total of 395 969 contracts executed through its systems on the JSE’s Equity Market yesterday. The total value of the trades reached $2.16 billion.

The JSE’s new record is significantly higher than the previous intraday trade record which was 300 000 trades on the JSE Equity Market. The venue reported that the average number of trades transacted per day during the year is 176,000.

The latest spree of activity comes after South African markets saw investors reduce their positions at the end of the last quarter as emerging markets took a hit in anticipation of interest rate changes in the US.

Leanne Parsons, Director Trading and Market Services at the JSE, says the JSE’s trading systems handled the large number of transactions without any difficulty. “Records like this show that the JSE continues to provide a stable, credible and world class Trading Platform as well as access to a very liquid market with deep pools of capital.”

The JSE has been strengthening its position as Africa’s most established and liquid financial markets trading venue. Recently the exchange embarked on a mission by enhancing its currency derivatives offerings through the launch of new currency pairs that could pave the way for an African currency-union, dominated by the southern-African nation. The JSE listed three new currency futures contracts which track the exchange rate between the Rand and the Zambian Kwacha, Kenyan Shilling and Nigerian Naira. The JSE has partnered with Barclays Africa and specialist broker, Tradition Futures, to bring this new offering to market.

South Africa is pitching itself as the leading cross-market Liquidity provider for African currency pairs as economies in the continent continue to grow. Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya are Arica’s key economic centres and continue to attract domestic& international investment.