The Johannesburg Stock Market and Stock Exchange, 1962–87

Abstract

In the past quarter of a century the Johannesburg Stock Market has been transformed. This has occurred as a result of the growth in the volume of business, the growth in market capitalisation, the development of an active and massive market in gilts and the growth in the volume of new capital raised. Though small by the standards of the great stock exchanges of the northern hemisphere, smaller even than the exchanges of Zurich and Basel, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange by 1987 was the largest in the southern hemisphere in terms of market capitalisation, and far and away the largest in Africa. Moreover, because of its gold-mining base and the presence of some very large corporations, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange exerts an influence upon the world economy out of proportion to its size. This chapter will focus mainly upon the shares traded, the capital raised and the composition of the holders of securities.