Junior Market jumps 47% since March 2020

The Junior Market climbed 47 percent in just over a year since the market collapsed by just over 39 percent in March last year from the close of 2019 when the market hit a multi-year low of 2,031.79 on March 18 last year.  
At the same time, the JSE Main Market, while trading above the March 2001 low, is nowhere near the 2020 high and closed out the first quarter marginally down on the 2020 closing.
The Junior Market is up 13 percent for 2021 to the end of March, clawing back most of 21 percent of the fall in 2020 and is now just 11 percent from the close of 3,348.97 at the end of December 2019.
In 2020, the Junior and Main Markets declined, with the Junior Market just edging out the Main Market index with a lower decline of 21 percent versus 22.6 percent for the year.
One year ago, to the end of March, the Junior Market Index dropped 29 percent to 2304.14 but was down a much steeper 47 percent to March 18, at 2031.79 points on the market index. The March 2020 low was the lowest point for the Junior Market since it closed at 2,032.77 points on July 1, 2016.
The market made some recovery last year from the year’s low when it moved higher on April 14, to 2,686.90 points but drifted down after some attempts to break over 2,600 points on a sustained level and closed out 2020 at 2,643.38.
In the meantime, the JSE Main Market failed to move higher in 2021, ending the first quarter 0.20 percent lower than the December close. It is still a bit lower than the 442,905.76 reached on the All Jamaica Composite Index after the early rebound from the 2020 low of 375,091.09 reached on March 25 last year, or the 438,045.18 reached subsequently on November 30.
The gains of eighteen stocks in the first quarter, this year, exceed that of the average of the market and just three performed worse, including CAC 2000 with a fall of 24 percent 19 percent decline for Dolphin Cove and 16 percent in the case of Knutsford Express. Five stocks contributing to the 2021 rebound for the Junior Market are Jamaican Teas up 60 percent, Indies Pharma 48 percent, Lumber Depot 47 percent, Blue Power 35 percent, Caribbean Flavours 35 percent and Fosrich 28 percent.
The Main Market recorded gains in 16 stocks that beat the market’s average move in 2021, with 26 falling below. Main market stocks with healthy gains are Ciboney with a stunning 142 percent rise, followed by Salada Foods with 125 percent gain aided by a 10 to one stock split, Grace Kennedy 37 percent, First Rock 31 percent and proven Investments 27 percent.  Palace Amusement Company that the Covid-19 dislocation has badly hurt is the worst-performing stock with a 51 percent decline, followed by Portland JSX with a loss of 25 percent and Radio Jamaica with 22 percent. Wisynco lost 14 percent and Wigton Windfarm 13 percent.