BSE, NSE agree to share stock feeds

Alliance may extend to trading on single platform.

The country’s two top equity exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), are set to seal an alliance. To begin with, both the exchanges will share stock feeds on their electronic trading platform.

The alliance could later extend to market players on both the exchanges trading on a single platform. BSE’s online trading platform (BOLT) could be available on NSE’s software Neat-on-Web (NOW), though no agreement has been reached on this so far.

Confirming the development, a top NSE official said, “Discussions in this regard with BSE are on and we are quite positive about it.”

NOW is a client server-based software application. And at the server end, all trading information is stored in an in-memory database to achieve minimum response time and maximum system availability for users.

BOLT has been certified by DNV for conforming with BS7799 security standards, making it the second stock exchange in the world to have this certification. The capacity of the BOLT platform stands at 8 million orders per day.

In 1995, BSE had replaced its open outcry system with the BSE on-line trading (BOLT) facility to facilitate smooth transactions. This totally automated, screen-based trading in securities was put into practice nation-wide within a record time of just 50 days.

According to top market players, the alliance will help BSE revive its futures trading.

“Most of the broker members and shareholders of BSE are keen to have a strategic alliance with NSE, which is already a leader in the futures segment. On the other hand, BSE has a good hold in the cash segment. The combination could form a strong force to reckon with,” said highly placed BSE sources.

While BSE has nearly 7,000 securities listed on it, NSE has over 1,200. Currently, over 184,000 NSE trading terminals are in use in over 1,400 towns and cities across the country from where orders can be entered into the system.

NSE officials said the number of trading terminals was set to cross the 200,000-mark this year.

MCX too had initiated a dialogue with BSE to explore a tie-up for sharing of technology. However, BSE officials said nothing concrete could be said about it as present.