Durrant Pate/Contributor

As anticipated, the Jamaican Stock Market is experiencing the early January seasonally slow period.

Last week most indices gave up grounds in the week, reversing gains recorded in the prior week. The primary decliners for last week were the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Cross-Listed Index, which fell by 1.40% and the JSE Manufacturing & Distribution (M&D) Index, which declined by 1.17%. 

The primary driver of the dip was a 2.0% decline in the share price of MASSY, the heaviest-weighted stock in the index, accounting for 68.4% of its market capitalization. There was no specific news to directly justify these movements. 

The movements in the M&D Index were primarily driven by a 4.2% decline in the share price of Grace Kennedy (GK) and a 2.8% drop in JBG’s share price. Overall stock market activity resulted in 126 stocks trading with 44 advancing, 71 declining, and 11 trading firm.

Some 192.54 million units valued at J$820.23 million traded, reflecting a 7.3% increase in volume and a 16.3% increase in value relative to the prior week. FESCO, Paramount Trading, and Wigton Energy emerged as the volume leaders with 22.33 million units (11.5%), 21.75 million units (11.19%), and 20.73 million units (10.67%), respectively.