The last posting on the stock exchange website for D&G is the release of the December quarter’s results posted on February 8, 2013. The exchange’s web site, on which information should be posted, did not have the release that the company would consider the payment of a dividend at a meeting to be held on May 16. How come a brokerage house had the said information posted on their website on Thursday but the exchange did not until after 9 am on Friday? What is really going on at the JSE? And where is the Financial Service Commission (FSC) in seeing to the orderly running of the capital market?
More questions | Why does the JSE put information about the trading of Proven ordinary shares in the combined trading report but at the same time, leave out the value of trade and the quantity? It makes absolutely no sense. Why should investors have to add the trading data to determine the full extent of a day’s trade? Importantly, why is the combined trading sheet that has the US$ listing as well as the US dollar index, carry the total trade but when checked, the value of trading is not included and nowhere on the report is there a notation that it is not included?
The reality is the stock exchange needs all the positive publicity it can get to interest more persons in the market. But do they see the value in fully informing the public about the total level of trading on the market? Is anyone then surprised that many persons think our market is a joke and prefer to try their luck in shark infested waters?
For example, the trade sheet section with market indices carries a column that is headed “value” and next to it “volume”. One would naturally think the value relates to the dollar value of trades, but not so. It is in fact the the closing indices for the day. The Trinidad Stock Exchange shows the section as closing indices and that seems far more logical.
The problem with our exchange | The executives think they know it best and constantly refer to international best practice for some of what they do. That however, is selective as there are other occasions that they do things when it suits them that are not done elsewhere. What about the users of the information? Should they not get trading reports that meet international best practices?
It’s time they wake up to reality. The question is who will do it.
