NCB Financial rose $4.99 to close at $150 on Friday, with the average price used in computing the market index slipping just 39 cents to $158.29 and only moderately affected the index movement on Friday.
At the close, the JSE All Jamaican Composite Index plunged by 8,884.77 points to 403,150.10. The JSE Market Index dropped 8,035.44 points to 367,554.61, off 28 percent for 2020 so far and the JSE Financial Index fell by 2.27 points to 102.61 with a fall of 25.4 percent for the year to date.
The major contributors to Friday’s steep fall are, Scotia Group’s with a fall of $5.29 that would have knocked more than 5,000 points off the overall index, Grace Kennedy with a $3.13 downward move, followed by JMMB Group down 98 cents, Sagicor $1.08 and Supreme Ventures $2.28.
The market closed with 41 securities changing hands in the Main and US dollar markets with prices of 17 stocks advancing, 16 declining and eight securities trading firm. Trading ended with Mayberry Investments closing at a 52 weeks’ low, while Mayberry Jamaican Equities, Sagicor Select Manufacturing & Distribution and Supreme Ventures traded at intraday 52 weeks’ lows.
The JSE Main Market activity ended with 42 securities accounting for 36,332,153 units valued at $175,354,038, in contrast to 22,241,264 units valued at $354,166,844 crossing the exchange from 42 securities on Thursday.
Wigton Windfarm led trading with 17 million shares for 46.7 percent of total volume followed by Sagicor Select Financial Fund with 7.2 million units for 19.7 percent of the day’s trade and Sagicor Select Manufacturing & Distribution Fund with 4.3 million units for 12 percent market share. Other stocks trading more than one million units were QWI Investments with 2.2 million units and Sagicor Group, with 1.01 million shares.
The Market closed with an average of 931,593 units valued at $4,496,257 for each security traded, in contrast to 529,554 units valued at an average of $8,432,544 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amount to 713,099 units at $6,167,490 for each company with stocks changing hands compared to 699,037 units valued at 6,282,646 for each security traded previously. Trading in February resulted in an average of 624,731 units valued at $3,239,665 for each security.
IC bid-offer Indicator│ At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 11 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 stocks closing with lower offers. The PE ratio of the market ended at 14.7, while the Main Market ended at 13.6 times 2019 earnings.
In the Main Market, Barita Investments slipped 35 cents to $50.65, in transferring 122,151 shares, Berger Paints shed 20 to end at $11, in swapping 500 units, Caribbean Cement climbed $1 to $41, with 70,536 stock units changing hands. Eppley Caribbean Property Fund gaining $3.30 to $41, after trading 10,658 shares, Grace Kennedy shed $1.50 in exchanging 284,895 stock units and finished at $56.50, Jamaica Broilers ended at $25, with gains of $1 with 103,859 units changing hands. Jamaica Stock Exchange picked up 45 cents trading 98,476 shares to close at $20, JMMB Group closed $1.29 higher at $36.90, in swapping 71,369 stock units, Kingston Wharves climbed $2 to end at $44, with 1,564 units crossing the exchange. Mayberry Investments fell by 87 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $5 after transferring 50,909 shares, 
Mayberry Jamaican Equities closed 50 cents higher at $6.50 with an exchange of 145,394 units, NCB Financial climbed $4.99 to $150, in transferring 212,384 units. Portland JSX settled at $7.80, with a loss of $1.10 trading 35,000 stock units, Proven Investments slid to $37, after falling by $2.79 with 8,819 shares crossing the exchange, Sagicor Group dropped $3.10 in swapping 1,012,113 units and closed at $49 after trading down to $43. Sagicor Real Estate Fund shed 99 cents trading 1,100 units to end at $7, Scotia Group dived by $6 to close at $40, with 340,790 shares changing hands, Seprod ended $2.50 higher with a transfer of 191,047 and settled at $37. Victoria Mutual Investments gained 67 cents trading 404,688 shares and closed at $7 and Wisynco Group closed at $14.70 after gaining 70 cents in swapping 540,430 shares.
Trading in the US dollar market ended with 13,080 units for $1,909. The market dropped 4.91 points to close at 204.88. Proven Investments lost 2 cents in transferring 1,305 units and closed at 26 US cents and Sygnus Credit Investments closed 1.3 cents lower and traded 11,775 shares to end at 12.7 US cents.
Prices quoted for trades are those of the last transaction for the trading day.
