JSE suffers more losses – Wednesday

The main market Jamaica Stock Exchange suffered more losses on Wednesday on top of those on Tuesday with the all Jamaican Composite Index dropping 1,851.50 points to 320,861.99 and the JSE Index falling 1,686.92 points to 292,341.55.
The decline was accompanied by lower trading volumes than on Tuesday as less money chased stocks.
Trading closed with 27 securities changing hands, up from 30 on Tuesday, leading to 11 advancing, 9 declining and 7 trading firm, in the main and US dollar markets. Securities closing with sizable price changes include, Caribbean Cement rising $1.44 to close at $39.94, Grace Kennedy with a gain of $1.95 to $49.45, Jamaica Broilers rising 97 cents to $20, JMMB Group climbing by $1.75 to $26.45, Palace Amusement dropping back $300 to $1,000, Pan Jam Investment falling $10.10 to $32, Scotia Group dropping $2.05 to end at $50.85 and Seprod adding $1.50 to $33.50.
Main market activity ended with 5,013,846 units valued at $96,400,279 compared to 21,289,061 units valued at $268,573,132 changing hands on Tuesday. Sagicor Group traded 833,093 units followed by Wisynco Group with 789,638 shares and Victoria Mutual Investments with 600,506 units.
Trading resulted in an average of 192,840 shares valued at $3,707,703 for each security traded, compared to 760,324 shares valued at $9,591,898 on Tuesday. For the month to date, an average of 639,063 units with an average value at 20,361,477 traded, compared to 661,120 units with an average value at $21,229,208 changing hands on the previous trading day. In contrast, February closed with an average of 213,336 units, valued at $3,392,475 for each security traded.
The US dollar market closed on Wednesday with Proven Investments trading 176,022 units valued at $36,712 at 20 US cents with the market index closing with a gain of 3.97 points to 167.77 as the weighted average price for the day was 20.86 US cents.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with a lower offers.
For more details of market activities see – Sharp price movements hit JSE main market – Wednesday.