The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange lost 4 percent in value since the start of the year and would have suffered a greater loss had Fontana that was listed in the dying days of 2018 not added positively to the index.
The closed lower in trading on Thursday as the Junior Market Index declined by 10.08 points to close at 3,118.31 with an increased number of securities changing hands.
Trading ended with 28 securities changing hands, compared with 23 on Wednesday, leading to the prices of 12 securities rising, 10 declining and 6 remaining unchanged.
Market activity, resulted in an exchange of 12,627,615 units valued at $50,730,330, compared to 1,524,611 units valued at $4,663,116, trading on Wednesday.
Trading ended with an average of 450,986 units for an average of $1,811,797 in contrast to 66,287 units for an average of $202,744 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 2,245,428 units valued at $7,372,574 and previously 2,345,317 units valued at $7,695,606, In contrast, December ended with an average of 136,222 units at a value of $737,367 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows 8 stocks ended with higher bids than their last selling prices and 2 closing with lower offers.
At the close of the day’s activities, Access Financial closed with a loss of $2.50 at $45.50, trading 110,000 shares, AMG Packaging ended 6 cents higher at $2.46, with an exchange of 33,184 stock units, Blue Power concluded trading with 7,507 units and lost 15 cents to end at $4.85, CAC 2000 finished trading 100 shares at $15. Cargo Handlers lost 3 cents to close at $15, with 128,861 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cream ended trading of 14,700 shares with the price rising 55 cents to $5.85, Caribbean Flavours traded 5,620 stock units and rose $1 to end at $19, Derrimon Trading ended with a loss of 19 cents at $2.60, with an exchange of 49,631 shares. Elite Diagnostic finished 5 cents higher at $3.05, with an exchange of 36,461 stock units. Everything Fresh traded 23,680 shares to close at $1.80, Express Catering settled 30 cents higher at $7.80, with 77,267 units changing hands, Fontana lost 4 cents to close at $3.45 with 9,633,854 shares changing hands and sucking out a great deal of the supply hanging over the market. FosRich Group ended trading of 14,920 shares and gained 19 cents to $3.95, General Accident traded 235,753 shares and gained 25 cents to close at $4, GWest Corporation finished trading 79,376 shares with a loss of 22 cents at $1.50. Honey Bun closed at $3.90, with 500 stock units changing hands, Indies Pharma rose 5 cents in ending at $3.05, with 346,285 units trading, Jamaican Teas finished 29 cents higher at $4, with an exchange of 3,000 shares, Jetcon Corporation  settled with a loss of 15 cents at $3.15, with 580,985 shares trading. Key Insurance  ended trading 5,590 stock units, with a loss of 10 cents, to end at $3,  Knutsford Express  finished trading of 6,706 shares, at $12.70,  Lasco Distributors  closed 15 cents higher at $3.80, exchanging 507,480 shares, Lasco Financial  ended at $4.50, with 20,544 shares. Lasco Manufacturing  concluded trading with a loss of 15 cents at $3.25, with an exchange of 273,968 stock units, Paramount Trading  ended trading of 244,690 shares, 11 cents higher at $2.20,  Stationery and Office  traded 20,881 shares with a loss of 40 cents to close at $8.60 and tTech gained 1 cent to end at $5, trading 118,072 units. In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading ended at $2.10, with 48,000 stock units changing hands.

Prices of securities trading for the day are those at which the last trade took place.