Stocks charged higher in Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market activity on Monday, with trading in 58 securities, up from 55 on Friday, with prices of 29 rising, 14 declining and 15 ending unchanged, with the volume of stocks traded declining 83 percent and the value 90 percent lower than on Friday, resulting in the All Jamaican Composite Index popping 5,173.84 points to 383,180.23, the JSE Main Index rallied 4,365.05 points to close at 330,104.29 and the JSE Financial Index gained 0.69 points to conclude trading at 68.76.
The market closed with 35,403,032 shares trading for $428,792,197, down from 211,546,624 stock units at $4,258,930,941 on Friday.
Trading averaged 610,397 shares at $7,392,969, well off from the 3,846,302 stocks at $77,435,108. Trading on Friday and month to date, an average of 896,190 units at $20,804,277, comparing favourably with 910,990 shares at $21,498,792 on the previous day and well above trading in February with an average of 405,332 stock units at $1,953,730.
Wigton Energy led trading with 15.17 million shares for 42.9 percent of total volume followed by Transjamaican Highway which ended with 5.60 million stocks for 15.8 percent of the day’s trade, Supreme Ventures closed with 4.08 million shares for 11.5 percent of the volume traded, Sagicor Group ended with 1.91 million units for 5.4 percent of the Main Market trades, Proven Investments chipped in with 1.35 million stock units for 3.8 percent of stocks traded and Sagicor Select Financial Fund with 1.02 million shares for 2.9 percent of the traded stocks.
The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 16 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and none with a lower offer.
The Main Market ended trading with an average PE Ratio of 15.6. The JSE Main and USD Market PE ratios are based on last traded prices and earnings forecasts by ICInsider.com for companies with their financial year ending around August 2025.
At the close, Berger Paints popped 35 cents to finish at $8.30 after an exchange of 20,109 shares, Eppley fell $2.12 and ended at $33.33 with investors swapping 2,489 stocks, Eppley Caribbean Property Fund slipped $5.50 to $33.50 with 8,580 shares crossing the market. GraceKennedy rallied 47 cents in closing at $73 in switching ownership of 29,083 units, Jamaica Producers rose $1.20 to end at $26.20 with traders dealing in 900,012 stock units, JMMB Group gained $2.69 to close at $22.69 539,352 shares crossing the market. Kingston Wharves advanced 55 cents to $29 with investors dealing in 241,242 stock units, Margaritaville sank $2.33 in closing at $13.17 after an exchange of 459 stocks, Massy Holdings climbed $1.50 to close at $81 with 462,244 units changing hands. Mayberry Group shed 60 cents to finish at $7 with investors trading 1,574 shares, Mayberry Jamaican Equities increased $1.39 and ended at $11.99 and closed with an exchange of 107,540 units, NCB Financial popped $4.93 to end at $50 with 245,795 stocks being traded. Pan Jamaica rallied $1.50 to $60 with investors trading 147,528 stock units, Proven Investments rose $1.62 and ended at $18.95 with 1,353,045 shares crossing the exchange, Sagicor Real Estate Fund climbed 35 cents to end at $8.65 after a transfer of 791,043 stock units and Supreme Ventures increased $2.48 in closing at $23.48 in trading 4,083,908 stocks.
In the preference segment, Eppley 7.25% preference share rallied 76 cents to finish at $20 after just one unit ended clearing the market, Eppley 7.75% preference share advanced $1.10 to close at $20.50 in an exchange of one stock, 138 Student Living preference share rose $33 to $233 after the trading of 228,656 units and Sygnus Credit Investments C10.5% declined $1.45 to end at $97.05 as investors exchanged 1,277 shares.Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Fosrich, Gwest Corporation, Indies Pharma, Jamaican Teas as well as Regency Petroleum all closed at 52 weeks’ highs. ISP Finance ended at a 52 weeks’ closing low and Paramount Trading hit a 52 weeks’ intraday low of 80 cents.
The Junior Market ended trading with an average PE Ratio of 14.9, based on last traded prices in conjunction with earnings projected by ICInsider.com for financial years ending around August 2025.
The market closed with an exchange of 815,187 shares for US$28,912 compared to 386,163 stocks at US$29,928 on Friday.
Since 2010, around 60 companies have listed shares on the JSE with new shares to the public. The vast majority of them split the shares to facilitate meeting the JSE rules or for greater liquidity of the shares. One would have thought that qualified accountants would by now be fully conversant in computing the correct number of shares and the average where applicable, thus computing the correct earnings per share. That is not the case. The JSE gets and vets financial reports and is clueless about what is happening with many of the financial reports put out by companies. If they did, they would not allow Omni Industries to report critical information that is incorrect in their financials for three quarters without revisions, now the audited statements have also incorrectly reported it.
The critical factor is that the earnings per share are overstated. This is crucial as many investors use EPS to value stocks. The market average is now around 15 2024 earnings, so at 9 cents, some may consider the stock to be undervalued at 94 cents, it traded today. If the correct EPS of 5 cents is used, the stock would be valued at nearly 21 times 2024 earnings and is well above the market average, too vastly different pictures.
The JSE Combined Market Index surged by 4,678.69 points to end at 342,015.39, the All Jamaican Composite Index jumped 5,173.84 points to end at 383,180.23, the JSE Main Index climbed 4,365.05 points to finish at 330,104.29, the Junior Market Index popped 70.39 points to end trading at 3,673.94 and the JSE USD Market Index declined 2.04 points to 224.84.
The market’s PE ratio, a frequently used measure to value stocks, ended at 15 based on 2024-25 earnings and 20.7 using 2024 historical earnings. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the other more detailed daily charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making. The PE ratio chart covers all the ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and are grouped by industry, allowing investors to made easy comparisons within a sector and the overall market. The earnings per share (EPS) and PE ratios are based on 2024 and 2025 actual or projected earnings, excluding any major one time income or expense.
The market closed with trading of 11,738,756 shares for $19,977,567 compared with 13,245,591 units at $24,563,567 on Thursday.
At the close, Access Financial climbed 16 cents to close at $16.55 with investors dealing in just 264 stock units, Blue Power dipped 49 cents to $5.10 after an exchange of 3,259 stocks, CAC 2000 rose 16 cents in closing at $2.65 with 2,745 shares crossing the market. Cargo Handlers rallied 74 cents to end at $11.24 after a transfer of 328 stock units, Caribbean Assurance Brokers popped 14 cents to finish at $2.78 in switching ownership of 3,450 shares, Caribbean Cream gained 17 cents and ended at $2.60 with 5,348 units crossing the market. Dolla Financial sank 15 cents to $2.60 with an exchange of 189,474 stocks, Dolphin Cove increased $1.39 and ended at $17.49 after 8,541 stock units passed through the market, Elite Diagnostic advanced 9 cents to close at $1.60 with a transfer of 14,289 shares. Fontana dropped 7 cents to finish at $9.43 after an exchange of 72,755 units, Fosrich rose 5 cents to end at $2.45 with investors trading 691,177 stocks, GWest Corporation rallied 13 cents in closing at $1.09 in an exchange of 185,169 stock units. Indies Pharma increased 17 cents to $3.83 with 111,394 shares changing hands, 
The market closed with trading of 211,546,624 shares for $4,258,930,941, up from 197,123,972 stock units at $470,952,289 on Thursday.
The All Jamaican Composite Index popped 1,461.32 points to conclude trading at 378,006.39; at the same time, the JSE Main Index climbed 1,254.58 points to close at 325,739.24 and the JSE Financial Index rallied 0.62 points to end trading at 68.07.
Trading resulted in all major indices in the three markets rising following the prices of 44 shares rising, 31 declining and 32 remaining firm.
The market’s PE ratio, the most popular measure used to value stocks, ended at 12.7 based on 2024-25 earnings and 20.5 based on 2024 historical earnings. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the other more detailed daily charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help in decision-making. The PE ratio chart covers all ordinary shares listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, grouped by industry, allowing for easy comparisons within a sector and the overall market. The earnings per share (EPS) and PE ratios are based on 2024 and 2025 actual or projected earnings, excluding any major one time income or expense.
The market closed with trading of 13,245,591 shares for $24,563,567 compared to 15,529,234 units at $24,827,930 on Wednesday.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging popped 40 cents and ended at $3.10 in an exchange of 7,913 stocks, CAC 2000 rallied 14 cents to $2.49 trading 603 units, Caribbean Assurance Brokers sank 19 cents to close at $2.64 after an exchange of just 164 shares. Caribbean Cream increased 22 cents in closing at $2.43 with investors trading 4,000 stock units, Dolla Financial popped 15 cents to finish at $2.75 with 148,196 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove dropped $1.79 to end at $16.10 and closed with 4,327 stocks changing hands. Everything Fresh rose 13 cents to $2.03 in an exchange of 284,786 units, Express Catering gained 10 cents to end at $2.88 with 57,724 stock units clearing the market, Fontana advanced 26 cents in closing at a 52 weeks’ high of $9.50 after a transfer of 111,010 shares. Future Energy lost 13 cents to close at $3.17 with traders dealing in 201,691 stocks, GWest Corporation popped 5 cents and ended at 96 cents as investors exchanged 131,026 units,