Durrant Pate/Contributor

Investors held back on the local stock market last week, as they digested a surge of March quarter earnings releases.

This was evident from the market performance of the main Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Combined Market Index, which advanced by a marginal 0.12%, as market breadth remained negative for the second consecutive week. Some 72 of the 125 traded stocks declined compared to 41 advancing, while 12 closed unchanged. 

Despite this, trading activity rose sharply with 253.22 million units valued at J$1.05 billion trading hands. This represents a substantial week-over-week increase of 132.56% in volume and 100.39% in value. 

Activity was highly concentrated, as the top three volume leaders accounted for 62.83% of total market volume, a sharp increase from the prior week’s 32.07%. Leading the activity was Kintyre Holdings (JA) , which traded 118.47 million units (46.32%), followed by TransJamaican Highway (TJH)  with 22.14 million units (8.65%) and Derrimon Trading with 20.11 million units (7.86%). 

Performance across the other major indices was positive, with six advancing and three declining. The JSE USD Equities Index was the standout performer, gaining 4.11%, driven by strong advances in Productive Business Solutions USD shares (+15.0%) and TJH USD shares ( +2.6%). PBS USD shares likely rallied on the May 13 dividend declaration. 

This came despite the company reporting weaker earnings performance for Q1 2026. Its net profit declined by 17.1% to US$2.24 million, reflecting a 10% year-over-year contraction in revenues to US$84.58 million. Meanwhile, TJH USD shares were driven by its Q1 earnings, which had net profit up 46.0% year-over-year to US$13.2 million, supported by the Phase 1C (May Pen–Williamsfield) addition. 

Another notable increase was the JSE Financial Index (+0.66%), which was due to share price gains in PanJam (+4.6%) and Scotia Group Jamaica (+3.3%). On the downside, the Junior Market Index recorded the sharpest decline, falling 0.98%.

The downturn was influenced by price drops in several stocks, including MFS Capital Partners (-23.3%) and KLE Group (-24.5%). MFS’s shares likely declined in response to the 57% contraction in its combined three-quarter results, due to the adverse impacts of Hurricane Melissa. 

Following closely was the JSE Cross Listed Index, which fell 0.95%, pulled down by declines in heavyweights Massy Holdings (-1.35%) and Guardian Holdings (-0.29%).