Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica’s stock market continued its bearish run in Q3 with overall market activity declining relative to both the previous quarter and Q3 2024. 

Jamaica’s stock market continued its bearish run in September to start Q3, with overall market activity declining relative to Q2. Market activities were also down compared to the same period of Q3 2024. 

Market volume declined to approximately 2.20 billion units at the end of Q3 2025, down from 2.89 billion in Q2 2025 (-23.8%) and 2.88 billion units in Q3 2024 (-23.7%). Similarly, market value dropped to J$12.19 billion, from J$12.70 billion in the previous quarter (-4.0%) and J$22.05 billion in Q3 2024 (-44.7%).

Despite the lower trading activity, investor sentiment showed signs of improvement with 63 stocks advancing, up from 36 in Q2 2025 and 58 in Q3 2024. On a positive note, the number of declining stocks went down to 64, from 92 in Q2 2025 and 70 in Q3 2024. Over the just-ended quarter, the overall market performance, tracked by the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Combined Index, rose by 2.19%. Barita Investments Ltd’s (+17.0%) and 

Guardian Holdings (+20.7%) played a major role, given its large weight in the index and its quarterly price increase. Carib Cement (+13.3%), A.S. Brydens (+28.0%) and Carreras (+9.4%) were also major contributors. Six of the remaining eight JSE indices advanced, led by the JSE Cross-Listed Index (+6.45%) and the JSE Financial Index (+3.73%). 

For the JSE Cross-Listed Index, Guardian was the main driver. For the JSE Financial Index, the increase was primarily driven by Barita and Guardian. 

However, the JSE USD index was the largest decliner for Q3 2025, and Productive Business Solution USD (-38.3%) was the biggest driver. The JSE Junior Market Index also declined for Q3 2025 with Fosrich (-12.6%), Blue Power Group (-32.4%), Tropical Battery Company (-29.9%), Indies Pharma Jamaica (-19.5%), and Main Event Entertainment Group (-32.4%) primarily driving the decline. 

However, the Junior Market’s decline was partly offset by Cargo Handlers (+33.9%), Regency Petroleum Company (+13.0%) and Dolphin Cove ( +12.0%), among others.