Durrant Pate/Contributor

Eight of the nine indices on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) went south at the start of April, as the local equities market seemingly echoed the fallout in the global equity markets in response to US President Donald Trump‘s broad-based “Liberation Day” tariffs. 

Jamaican exports to the United States were slapped with a 10 per cent tariff effective April 5, which could weigh on demand for goods from local companies that export to the US. The JSE Combined Market Index declined by 0.49 per cent, as 77 of the 127 stocks that traded declined, 35 advanced, and 15 remained unchanged. 

The main decliners were the JSE USD Equities (-7.55 per cent) and the JSE Junior Market (-1.28 per cent) indices. The US Equities Index plummeted due to A.S. Bryden & Sons (Trinidad) (-19.75 per cent) and TransJamaican Highway. (-5.38 per cent) both were declining.

For the junior market, share price declines in Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) (-8.18 per cent) and Derrimon Trading Company (-4.08 per cent), were the major drivers. SOS released its audited results for the year ended December 2024, which saw it record a 19.8 per cent decline in earnings as higher operating expenses dampened net profits. 

The JSE Manufacturing & Distribution Index (0.47 per cent) was the only index that advanced with A.S. Bryden & Sons’ Jamaican dollar shares (+10.60 per cent), Caribbean Cement Company Limited (+2.77 per cent), and to a lesser extent, GraceKennedy (+1.31 per cent) being the main drivers. 

GraceKennedy’s increase comes at a time when the directors of its insurance subsidiary, Key Insurance responded to its take-over bid.

They recommended that KEY shareholders accept GK’s offer on the grounds of the possibility of Key being delisted from the JSE along with the fact that the offer price exceeds the highest price at which the Key shares have traded over the last four months.