Citing increased trading activity, Africa’s largest stock exchange plans to build a co-location service next to its own data center that it says will make trading up to 24-times faster, according to a report in IndependentOnline.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange co-location facility – the first in Africa – will have space for 35 racks for clients’ computers that could be boosted to 140 in future, said Leanne Parsons, equity market director for JSE Ltd., which operates the exchange.
Due to be completed by June, it will offer a connection speed as fast as 100 microseconds, or one-10,000th of a second, compared with 2,400 microseconds for exchange members currently in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton.
That translates to 24-times faster than somebody in Sandton who isn’t using the service, Parsons said. “You are talking about significantly different speeds.”
The JSE’s co-location facility is expected to boost trading volumes through the service, Parsons said.
Excluding one-time items, earnings for the six months through June are expected be 20 percent to 40 percent higher per share than a year earlier, Parsons said.
The growth was driven by “increased trading activity” in equities and derivatives and the absence of an impairment charge, according to a statement.