Iron Rock Insurance is the top performing stock to the end of October on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with a rise of 75 percent following b full year results for 2023 as it bettered the performance with increased revenues and profits for the six months to June.
The market ended the year to date with ten stocks gaining 21 percent and over while the Junior Market index fell 0.9 percent for the year to date. Overall 19 stocks gained and 29 declined. The main feature of rising stocks is due to increased profits and reinforced the concept that profit performance is the major driver of stock prices.
Blue Power was the second best performer up 62 percent followed by Everything Fresh with a gain of 59 percent resulting from a b turnaround in profits, Caribbean Brokers ended with a 49 percent pop and Elite Diagnostic 34 percent, with the company posting b fourth quarter results to June.
Edufocal delivered a huge 78 percent fall for investors, followed by MFS Partners, CAC 2000 fell 43 percent KLE Group 32 percent and Spur Tree 31 percent. The sharp decline in price is primarily due to companies making losses or with profits falling below the prior year.
The market peaked at a record high in early May, but it ended the year with 29 stocks with gains compared with 18 losers that fell from 4 percent to 54 percent, with ISP Finance being the worst performer, followed by a 45 percent fall in Mailpac and 40 percent for tTech, with five 2022 IPO stocks being in the TOP15. Fosrich bolted 312 percent for the year to be the leading stock on the overall JSE market in 2022.
MFS Partners, formerly SSL Venture Capital, came in at number three with 202 percent following the acquisition by a new majority owner and a new business model and Stationery and Office Supplies, an ICTOP15 pick, came in with gains of 145 percent after robust increases in revenues and profit for the year.
Junior Market performance was telegraphed from January 2022 by the attached technical chart showing trendlines pointing to a level to a likely high for 2022 beyond 3,800 points. The market index exceeded the upper end in February and remained there until July and pulled below it in the second half of the year ending up just below the lower level in the Middle of November with an initial public offering that drained resources from the secondary market.
But a host of newer investors are having a whale of a time making good money in the more investor friendly market. These newer investors are mainly interested in Junior Market stocks, two observers disclosed to ICInsider.com. The burst of new investors were attracted to the market by initial public offers of mainly