The JSE has a busy year ahead to continue to operate efficiently through what is likely to be another volatile 12 months for markets local and globally, and to pursue products, technology and collaborative opportunities to make capital-raising, share-trading and investment easier on the bourse.
This was according to the JSE’s director of Capital Markets, Valdene Reddy, who was interviewed yesterday by Business Report about what the year holds for the JSE.
The NJSE’s All-Share Index (ALSI) is up almost 9% since the beginning of the year after locally listed equities benefited from rising international equity markets.
Reddy said the JSE was coming into 2023 from a previous 12 months where trading on the JSE was heavily impacted by macro-economic and global events, such as the rising interest rates and inflation, and the impact on world markets by the conflict in Ukraine.
She said that ironically, emerging markets were back in vogue among global investors due to the weakening economic outlook for developed countries, and South Africa is increasingly being viewed as a safe haven among emerging markets, given the political instability in Brazil, political and economic uncertainties in China and the impact of sanctions on Russia.
Organisationally, the JSE proved itself again last year by operating seamlessly through highly volatile global markets, and some of its current opportunities for international investors include high-yielding interest rate investments, commodity focused investments on its markets, and the many listed companies with dollar denominated operations that would benefit from a stronger greenback, said Reddy.
The JSE had seen a number of delistings as well as the delay of some new listings last year, due mainly to the volatile markets and the macro-economic environment, and while it was hard to divorce the outlook from the currently uncertain outlook, the listings pipeline for 2023, at this stage, “remains strong”, she said.
There was also strong demand for capital raisings at present and the pipeline in JSE Private Placements (JPP) was also healthy – JPP is a marketplace by the JSE launched last year that provides digital access to investment opportunities and capital raising facilities for private companies using fintech.
”Investors are hungry for diversification and there has been a resurgence in demand for listed and transparent investments that also provide geographical diversification,” she said. Collaboration with other markets such as the recently signed MoU with the New York Stock Exchange would continue to unlock South Africa as a value investment destination among public, private and institutional investors, such as making dual listing between the JSE and New York Stock Exchange easier.
Reddy said while South Africa faces a myriad macro-economic challenges in 2023, so did the global market environment, and so the JSE was focusing on unlocking the opportunities that it could see, which would enable further investment and trading on its markets.
BUSINESS REPORT