JSE trading hits record in 2018

The Jamaica Stock Exchange enjoyed its best year ever in 2018, with trading in the main market climbing 110.40 percent over 2,590,383,796 shares in 2017 to reach 5,450,190,431 units valued at $75,469,542,096, up by 105.70% compared to $36,689,806,007 traded in 2017.
In the final quarter of 2018, trading volume excluding block transactions in the main market fell by 13 percent to 915 million shares with the value increasing 62.4 percent to $22,271,459,936, for the highest quarterly value traded for 2018, data from the Jamaica Stock Exchange show.
Trading activity fell in the Junior Market in 2018, versus the previous year, as regular trading declined 70 percent in December and helped push the volume down by 10 percent for the year and the value by 15 percent. Trading in the Junior Market resulted in 26,845 transactions in 2018 and 1,415,717,406 units changing hands for $5,848,812,746 compared to 22,230 transactions and 1,347,735,367 shares valued at $6,863,734,529.90 in 2017, for regular and block transactions.
In the US dollar market, 15.5 percent less transactions occurred, but volume traded was just marginally down to 43,576,278 units with a decline of 30 percent in value to US$8,765,761, from US$12.5 million in 2017.
With trading reaching the above levels and equating to more than US$633 million in 2018, the market   has surpassed the record $40 billion or US$630 million traded in 2005.
For January this year, the overall volume amounted to 1,230,485,201 units valued at $5,675,185,083 up sharply from 201,572,646 shares valued at $3,001,143,584, last year January.
The increased trading while indicating increased buying interest in the market, it is signaling a major switch in interest from the Junior Market stocks to the main market, last year. It also suggest that institutional investors are more involved in the market than before. Finally, it telegraph a strong message about the prospects for the profitability for the Jamaica Stock Exchange should the trend continue.