Trading activity on the Jamaican stock market last week reverted to its downward trajectory, after a noteworthy disruption of the trend seen in the prior week.

Last week‘s trading session ended with six out of the nine indices declining. The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Cross-Listed Index had the largest week-over-week depreciation of 5.37 per cent, followed by the JSE Manufacturing and Distribution Index, down 1.64 per cent and the JSE Junior Market Index, down 1.21 per cent.

The largest week-on-week appreciation was the JSE USD Equities Index (2.20%), followed by the JSE Select Index (0.93%).

Lasco Manufacturing (LASM) (-5.06%), Fosrich Company Limited (-6.80%), and Future Energy Source Company (-5.56%) primarily drove the fall-off in the JSE Junior Index and LASM and FESCO also contributed to the decline in the JSE Manufacturing and Distribution Index.

On the other hand, Lumber Depot Limited (+7.17%) and Radio Jamaica (+1.33%) were the main contributors to the rise in the JSE Select Index. There was no direct news to support the price changes except for Fosrich, which released its financial statements for the third quarter ended September 2023, the prior week.

The company noted that higher cost of sales and administrative expenses were primarily due to increased costs associated with sales, staff-related costs, insurance policy renewal rates and depreciation expenses, which resulted in a net comprehensive loss of $27,030,445 in comparison to the net income of $89,907,617 in the previous corresponding period.

This depressed third-quarter performance could have led to the decline in investor sentiments, hence the decline in stock price.