Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) continues to endure financial turbulence this month, where, for the second consecutive week, six of the nine JSE indices declined.

Last week’s decline was led by the JSE Cross-listed Index, down 5.13 per cent and the JSE Junior Market Index, down 1.68 per cent. Share price declines in Guardian Holdings (-13.84 per cent) and Massy Holdings (-0.65 per cent) weighed on the cross-listed Index, while depreciations in ISP Finance (-33.61 per cent) and Knutsford Express (-5.13 per cent) shares pulled down the junior market.

In contrast, gains in NCB Financial Group (+2.82 per cent) and Carreras (+1.56 per cent) primarily contributed to a 0.44 per cent lift in the JSE Select Index, making it last week’s top-performing index. There wasn’t any news supporting the price movements; however, changes in prices were likely impacted by market movements on supply versus demand.

The stock market, as measured by the JSE Combined Index, slipped further last week by 0.9 per cent. Of the 126 stocks that traded, 39 advanced, 66 declined, and 21 were unchanged. 

Notably, trading activity strengthened week-over-week,  with market volume surging to 132.09 million units valued at J$648.58 million, up 98.8 per cent and 114.8 per cent respectively from the prior week. Activity also became more concentrated, as the top three volume leaders accounted for 73.6 per cent of total trades, up from 54.9 per cent the week before.

TransJamaican Highways led by a wide margin, contributing 68.6 per cent of total volumes traded (91.99 million units), while Fosrich (3.6 million units) and Sagicor Select Funds (3.1 million units) trailed distantly for second and third highest volumes.