Johannesburg - Stock exchanges from Brazil, Russia, India,
Hong Kong and South Africa on Wednesday unveiled a cross-listing agreement for
derivatives in a bid to increase economic partnerships, officials said.
The BM&F BOVESPA from Brazil, MICEX from Russia, Hong
Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) and South Africa's JSE would start
the product-sharing by June 2012.
The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the BSE will
join after meeting the final requirements in their country. The exchanges have
a combined market capitalisation of $9 trillion, they said in a joint
statement.
Collectively, the five major emerging economies are known as
Brics. The five countries this year have taken a series of steps toward closer
economic and diplomatic ties.
"We are all looking for ways to grow, to expand our
core market. Brics is a really big commodity play," said HKEx chief
executive Charles Li in a statement.
The decision was announced at the World Federation of
Exchanges (WFE) in Johannesburg.
Under the deal, the exchanges will cross-list benchmark
equity index derivatives. Later they plan to develop new products to track the
exchanges.
The bourses have 9 481 companies listed on them and
accounted for 18% of global exchange-listed derivative contracts traded by
volume as of June 2011.
"The Brics exchanges alliance holds great promise, as
it will create avenues for Indian investors to diversify and expand into other
emerging markets," said BSE head Madhu Kannan.