JSE suffers big decline on Friday

The Main and Junior markets suffered a sizable fall but the USD Market inched up higher, with trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange coming back to earth on Friday, following the big bounce on Thursday with trading ended with the volume and value of stocks changing hands dropping sharply from that of the previous trading day, resulting in prices of only 27 shares rising and 39 declining.
At the close of trading, the JSE Combined Market Index dropped 1,798.83 points to 339,161.61, the All Jamaican Composite Index sank 2,067.87 points to end at 365,157.55, the JSE Main Index shed 1,505.24 points to end at 326,418.42. The Junior Market Index plunged 51.06 points to 3,766.56 and the JSE USD Market Index rallied 0.63 points to finish at 244.03.
At the close of trading, 29,059,711 shares were exchanged in all three markets, well off from 555,998,264 units on Thursday, with the value of stocks traded on the Junior and Main markets amounted to $240.14 million, vastly lower than the $1.808 billion on the previous trading day and the JSE USD market closed with an exchange of 209,773 shares for US$28,768 compared to 186,609 units at US$46,047 on Thursday.
In Main Market activity, Carreras led trading with 10.79 million shares followed by Wigton Windfarm with 5.19 million units, then JMMB 9.5% preference share with 3.01 million shares, JMMB Group 7.25% preference share due 2024 chipped in with 1.66 million units and GraceKennedy with 1.31 million stock units.
In the Junior Market, ONE on ONE Educational led trading with 1.23 million shares followed by EduFocal with 432,820 stock units and Fosrich with 222,006 units.
In the preference segment, Jamaica Public Service 7% advanced $5 to end at $48 and Productive Business Solutions 9.75% preference share fell $9.92 in closing at $95.08.
The market’s PE ratio, the most popular measure used to determine the value of stocks, ended at 19.7 on 2022-23 earnings and 13.7 times those for 2023-24 at the close of trading. ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
The PE ratio chart covers all ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, grouped by industry, allowing for easy comparisons between the same sector companies and the overall market. The EPS & PE ratios are based on 2023 and 2024 actual or projected earnings, excluding major one off items.
Investors need pertinent information to navigate numerous investment options successfully in the stock market. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
Investors should use the chart to help make rational decisions when investing in stocks close to the average for the sector and not going too far from it unless there are compelling reasons to do so. This approach helps to remove emotions from investment decisions and place them on fundamentals while at the same time not being too far from the majority of investors. Investors who buy when the price of a stock is close to the average will find that they are not inclined to overpay for a stock.
The net asset value of each company is reported as a guide for investors to assess the value of stocks based on this measure quickly. The chart also shows daily changes in stock prices and the percentage year to date price movement based on the last traded prices.
Dividends paid or payable and yields for each company are shown in the Main and Junior Markets’ daily report charts, along with the closing volume of the highest bid and the lowest offer for each company.